


Where Do We Go From Here

by neojedigoddess



Category: American Actor RPF, Real Person Fiction, Supernatural RPF
Genre: Anxiety, Behind the Scenes, Briana and Kim are the female Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Depression, F/M, Jared is also a cinnamon roll, Jensen is a cinnamon roll, Jensen is a sex god, Morning After, No Danneel, No little Ackles, Personal Assistant trope, Romance, Self-Esteem Issues, alternating povs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2018-09-18 01:14:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 60,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9358022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neojedigoddess/pseuds/neojedigoddess
Summary: When Kate Baylor wakes up the morning after the Christmas hiatus set party for Supernatural, she doesn't expect to discover that she's not alone or that she apparently slept with her boss, Jensen Ackles. Faced with the anxiety that comes with something she never thought would happen, she has to try and figure out just what she wants and just what he wants.





	1. Kate

**Author's Note:**

> First off, this is AU in that there is no Danneel, no JJ and no twins! So please, no hate! There's no specific timeline for this except that the little Miss Padalecki is born a touch early (just so I could include her). I know nothing of exactly what a personal assistant does or doesn't do, so just take that with a grain of salt and try to enjoy yourself!

Kate stretched slowly, feeling a dull ache between her legs and sighed, her sleep addled mind not sure if it was just a sign her period was on its way or she was having one of those weird early mornings where she just really wanted sex or what. The human body was a weird thing and only got weirder as she got older.

 

It was when she moved to turn on her side that she felt the bed move and an arm wrap around her and a warm scruffy face bury itself against her shoulder that she realized that she hadn't even considered option 3, she was sore after having sex.

 

That right there was enough to wake her up almost completely and she struggled to stay calm because at that very moment, she had no instant recall on who exactly she'd slept with.

 

_Ok Kate. Breathe. Breathe. What is the last thing you remember?_

 

She'd been at the wrap party for the midway point on the current season of Supernatural. They were on hiatus for the next 6 weeks. It'd been a barnburner of a party, as per usual and everyone had had a good time. She'd especially liked that she'd only had to turn down drink offers about a dozen times.

 

_You don't drink, how the hell do you not remember who that is wrapped around you and currently pressed against your ass?_

 

She bit her lip, trying not to make any noise at the feel of someone's very awake member nestled against her ass. She took a deep breath through her nose and it was when the smell of a very distinct cologne mixed with the musk joked around about on the set hit her. It was like a lightening bolt to her brain.

 

The man who'd caused that ache and was currently working on a new ache thanks to his proximity and scent, the man wrapped around her, warm and naked was one she'd never ever thought she'd be in this situation with, though she had imagined it many times.

 

She remembered spending time with him, laughing and joking like they always did. The way he'd taken up her challenge that he couldn't make it through a Supernatural cast and crew party without drinking. The way they'd laughed at everyone else as they proceeded to get more and more destroyed.

 

She remembered him insisting on driving her home personally because now he saw just how drunk just their coworkers had gotten, who knew who else was out there drunk and driving? She remembered inviting him in and offering him a cup of coffee before he headed back to his own apartment.

 

She bit her lip hard as she remembered turning from the coffee machine in her kitchen to find him standing so incredibly close. It was a joke on set that none of the guys had any sense of personal space and she was used to it thanks to how she pretty much spent all her time with them. But this was different. The look in his eyes was completely different. He'd never looked at her like that before, especially that close.

 

She remembered him kissing her, the sweet taste of his lips thanks to the cherry coke he'd been drinking at the party because he couldn't get himself to order a Shirley Temple like she had. She remembered how quickly the kiss deepened. She remembered the feel of his hand in her hair, gripping as his other hand gripped her hip as he pressed her against the counter.

 

She remembered feeling just how much he wanted her as he murmured it in her ear, his body rocking against her as he peppered kissed along her jaw and her neck. The way he'd all but hauled her over his shoulder and marched them into her bedroom like he owned the place.

 

She remembered the way he undressed her, unhurried and methodical, his eyes taking in everything exposed, watching her reactions as she undressed him. The way they kept interrupting each other's progress with kisses both tender and fierce. The feel of his hands as he explored her body, his voice in her ear as he detailed just what he was going to do to her and how eager he was to feel her wrapped around him.

 

Her heart raced as she remembered the way his eyes were locked on hers when he surged up into her, making them both gasp at the feel of the connection between their bodies. The feel of his strong back and shoulders under her hands, the feel of his hands everywhere, gripping and pulling. The sound of their labored breathing, moans and whimpers.

 

The sound of him moaning her name when he came after making her scream his.

 

She almost screamed right then when suddenly she felt soft kisses being pressed to her neck as he pulled her closer to him, his hand finding hers and entwining their fingers. “Mmm, morning sweetheart.”

 

What the hell did she say? Had this been a one night stand? If it was, how the hell did either of them work together after this? Did he have any idea how much she'd wanted him and not just sex but the whole thing? Did he even want that? Did he want that from her?

 

“I know you're awake. You are thinking too hard. Your heart is pounding, I can feel it.” His voice was deep and husky with sleep and it took everything in her to not whimper. “Is it because you can feel me?” He moved his hips against her ass.

 

She couldn't help it then, she did whimper. It was all she could do not to press back against him.

 

“That's a yes.” He let go of her hand and urged her to roll over and lay on her other side facing him. His hand touched her face, his eyes looking into hers making the intimacy of the moment that much more sharp. “Not talking to me today?”

 

“I...I have morning breath.” She managed to stutter, fully aware that she was having this conversation with him very naked and very aroused at the moment, though the second could be explained away by morning wood. She even went as far as to turn her face a little as she spoke and cover her mouth with her hand.

 

“Doesn't bother me, but okay. Do you want the first shower or do you wanna share?” A lecherous smile took his lips. “Sharing could be fun.”

 

“I'm...I'm a little...sore.” She avoided his eyes, embarrassed at the lame excuse. It wasn't a lie, she really was sore but not so much that she couldn't go again.

 

“Alright sweetheart. I know it's been a while and we were pretty busy most of the night. Why don't you take a shower, get all relaxed and I'll make some breakfast, okay?”

 

“Yeah. Yeah that'd be nice.”

 

He gave her one of his smiles that never failed to make her stomach flip, especially now with it being while they were both naked in her bed, the morning after a night of intense lovemaking. He leaned in and kissed her softly, just pressing their lips together. No doubt because of her lame ass excuse of bad breath. “I'll see you in a few. Leave some hot water for me, okay?”

 

She swallowed and nodded, sitting up and instinctively moving to cover herself even though it was pretty pointless considering he'd seen everything last night. Taking a deep breath she tried not to run for her bathroom and the safety of that small room but managed a somewhat dignified walk.

 

As dignified as one could be walking naked with someone watching them from behind could be.

 

She moved right to her shower and turned it on full blast before she slumped down on the closed toilet seat, her face in her hands. What was she going to do? She was a personal assistant to the two biggest stars on Supernatural and she was almost certain that she'd just ruined that in the last 12 hours.

 

What had she been thinking, sleeping with Jensen Ackles of all people?

 


	2. Jensen

Jensen woke up a little when he felt the bed move and sleepily he instinctively followed, wrapping his body against that which he'd been tucked against so nice and warm. The body that belonged to Kate, a person that he'd snuggled with more than once before though with clothing on. He'd know the smell of her shea butter shampoo and lilac perfume anywhere.

 

Now he knew what it was to feel her sleep warm skin against his and to be as wrapped up in her as she was in him. He smiled to himself and nuzzled her neck, letting his mind drift in that half awake place of sleep and consciousness.

 

Part of him was very awake and that was very annoying. He was getting damn near close to 40 fucking years old and he still got morning wood? He knew it was a natural biological thing blah blah blah, but come on already. If anything, his dick should be the part of him still dead asleep after last night.

 

Oh man, last night.

 

Everything about the night before was so crystal clear in his mind, probably why his fifth limb was wide awake. The only thing he was a tiny bit hazy on was what exactly had inspired him to finally just see if nearly 3 years of flirting, all the looks and the touches, the affection and care could actually mean more than just the best assistant and probably one of the closest female friend he'd ever had.

 

He'd watched her when they got to her apartment, noting how she had a coffeemaker even though she didn't drink it herself and how she had multiple kinds of coffee in the cabinet, including his favorite and Jared's. He thought about how she was concerned about him having energy for the drive back to his apartment just like he'd been concerned about her driving home from the set party with potential drunks on the road. The way she wanted to thank him in some small way for wanting to make sure she got home okay.

 

He'd noticed, as he always did, her figure. She was small, roughly the same size as Jared's wife and just as curvy though not thanks to the results of three children. She enjoyed food too much to diet or even want to diet, she'd always said. She was healthy and had no real problem with her body and that's all that mattered to her. He noticed how she had dressed up a bit for the party with a flattering top and tighter than normal jeans but had made sure she'd feel comfortable too and he liked that. He'd never been a fan of girls who tried too hard. He noticed her long brown curly hair and the way it swayed against her back as she closed the cabinet door and arranged everything in the coffeemaker.

 

Something in him just told him to go for it, that he'd know if she wasn't interested or not comfortable with the whole thing. At worst, he could pretend to dismiss it as just late night adrenaline from the party and whatever. He just felt an overwhelming need to just know once and for all, not just how she felt but how he really felt when it came down to it.

 

But then when she'd turned around and looked up at him, her blue eyes wide and surprised, her breath shaky, he'd seen it. He saw the way her eyes dilated. He saw the quick glimpse to his mouth that he'd been sure he'd seen before but not this close. He saw how she didn't dismiss how close he was but instead moved just that much closer to him.

 

He'd more than noticed the way she trembled when his lips first touched hers, the shiver. The way her small hand had convulsively gripped at his arm, her sharp intake of air. The way her mouth followed his when he started to pull back. The way she gripped his shirt in her fist when his hand found its way into those curls.

 

He'd noticed her intent to make sure no part of his mouth was deprived of her kiss, like she wanted to make sure she experienced all of him. It was the way she was passionate but not sloppy, not hurried. It had only turned him on more. It made him want to return the favor.

 

He'd noticed the way her body almost instinctively pressed back against him when he'd pressed her against the counter, rocking his hips against hers. He'd only barely run a hand over her ass to the back of her thigh before she moved her leg just the way he wanted, up and around his hip so he could press against her just that much more intimately.

 

He noticed her surprised squeal of laughter after he muttered a fuck this and thrown her over his shoulder and headed for the bedroom. It was far from the first time he'd ever manhandled her, though usually it was just messing around on set. Both he and Jared took great joy in having what they teased her as being, the Pocket Sized Assistant.

 

He'd noticed the light in her eyes, the way she licked her lips in anticipation after he'd tossed her down on her bed and moved quickly up the bed on his hands and knees to join her. She wanted this as much as he did.

 

He noticed the tremble in her hands as she undressed him, the shy smile on her lips when he'd stopped her hands with his and pressed kisses to her fingers, murmuring that it was just him, it was just them. There was no one she had to be nervous around, it was just him.

 

He'd pressed her into the bed with his kiss when she murmured that there was no just him to her.

 

He noticed just what she'd been hiding from him the last three years with clothing though he'd been rather familiar with all of her from hugs and cuddles. He'd always joked that's how she'd ended up being Jared's assistant first, because she'd passed the Padalecki cuddle test. Not so many people were as physically demonstrative with affection as that man, but she came damn close. A playful hug around the shoulders when she brought them coffee in the morning while they were getting make up and hair to a big joyous hug when a complicated scene went off without a hitch.

 

One of his favorite things was the way she seemed obsessed with playing with hair, the way she'd just run her fingers though his hair, her nails gently scratching at his scalp. He wondered if she had any idea just how creative he'd had to become to hide his physical reaction to when she did that or if she had any idea how much he loved that she was always cold just so he could see her all but swim in one of his hoodies or cuddle up to him on the sofa of his trailer.

 

He'd noticed her gasp as he entered her in one swift thrust, her small hands digging into his back as he marveled at just how perfect she felt wrapped around him like this, how well they fit together. The way she clung to him, wanting him that much closer, that much deeper. The way her body moved with his like it wasn't their first time together.

 

After last night he was going to try like hell to make sure it was the first of many nights.

 

He'd more than noticed the way her eyes had all but rolled up in the back of her head with one final twist of his hips, throwing her into what seemed like the orgasm of her life from the way she'd nearly screamed his name, her voice weak and strained from lack of breath. How beautiful she was in that moment, completely unraveled, completely trusting in him to see her at her most primal, most unguarded.

 

He'd noticed the gentle way she'd talked him down from his own mindblowing orgasm, keeping herself wrapped around him, pressing soft kisses to his face and shoulder as he all but collapsed against her, no doubt crushing her. The way she wrapped one arm around his shoulders and the other around his head, her fingers going right into his hair. There was no shoving away and rolling over or heading to the bathroom to clean up. Just holding each other and coming down from the high only their two bodies could create together only to find that high again and again until their bodies gave up from exhaustion.

 

Now he laid there and found himself wondering just what happened next. This wasn't just a one time thing, not if he could help it. He honestly hadn't meant to have it go so far so quickly but she'd been so willing and soft and eager. He'd felt wanted for the first time in years. Truly wanted, not just for his fame or looks or attention, but wanted for who he was and how she knew him. She'd been there for so much in the last few years from the joy of the birth of Jared's daughter to the low of his own divorce from his wife of only a few years. She'd stuck by him despite the rumors his ex started that he'd cruelly abandoned her not just for Kate, but for a weird swinger relationship with her, Jared and Gen.

 

Laying there, he began to realize he wasn't the only one awake. He was so wrapped around Kate that he could feel her heartbeat and it was fast, almost pounding. Was she thinking about last night, overthinking it to be more precise like she had a tendency to do? Or was she thinking about how she was laying naked in bed with essentially her boss, one of them anyway, with his hard-on nestled right up against her sweet round ass?

 

He decided to find out for sure and gave in to the temptation that was her neck and shoulders, pressing kisses to the skin, lingering and taking some enjoyment for himself. He fully planned on getting to know every inch of her in time.

 

If that's what she wanted. They hadn't really talked very much the night before other than the talk that was typical for a night of passion. He smiled against her skin. A night of passion. Yeah, that was pretty much the only way to describe it. He pulled her closer, finding her small hand with his and entwining their fingers.

 

“I know you're awake. You are thinking too hard. Your heart is pounding, I can feel it.” His own voice sounded a bit huskier than normal, almost the “Dean” voice he used for the show. He wondered if she like that. When she didn't react, he decided to see if maybe more than words would earn him a response. “Is it because you can feel me?”

 

He moved his hips against her ass, biting his own lip to try and control himself when he heard her gasp and whimper. Just that bit of reaction, the surprise and shock with a touch of wantonness was enough to make him want to spend all day right here in this bed figuring out every way he could to get her to make that noise again.

 

“That's a yes.” He let go of her hand and urged her to roll over and lay on her other side facing him. He reached up and touched her face, a little confused at how quiet she was being. Was she having second thoughts, regretting last night? “Not talking to me today?”

 

“I...I have morning breath.” She murmured, turning her face a little as she spoke and cover her mouth with her hand. Her eyes avoided his which made him wonder what was really going on in that wonderful mind of hers. Kate was far from the most confident person he'd ever met and he really hoped she wasn't thinking that this was a mistake or that he thought that way.

 

“Doesn't bother me, but okay. Do you want the first shower or do you wanna share?” He gave her his best promising smile. “Sharing could be fun.” Hell yes it could be a lot of fun. He could show her just how much he enjoyed last night, enjoyed her. How much he still wanted her.

 

“I'm...I'm a little...sore.” She avoided his eyes, again. That alone told him volumes.

 

“Alright sweetheart. I know it's been a while and we were pretty busy most of the night. Why don't you take a shower, get all relaxed and I'll make some breakfast, okay?”

 

In knowing her for three years, he'd learned from late night talks and long plane rides that she was an old fashioned romantic and pretty particular about who she potentially dated or brought home. Add into that her crazy idea that she had standards way above what she could actually achieve and you had a woman who'd gone a very very long time without any intimacy or dating. A woman who'd focused on her family and then after she lost them, just existing through work. That was until she'd been encouraged to try for the assistant's job with Jared by a friend she'd grown up with who worked for Arrow.

 

There was a good chance she actually was sore, not that they'd been swinging from the ceiling or anything. They'd just been insatiable for each other. There was also a good chance she was distancing herself until she had a grip mentally on what was going on and how she felt about it. She was retreating into her head, he knew the signs because he was guilty of doing it more than once.

 

“Yeah. Yeah that'd be nice.”

 

He gave her a smile, trying to reassure her without words. He knew right then she needed an out and he'd given it to her with the offer of making breakfast while she showered as much as he really wanted to share it with her. He leaned in and kissed her softly, just pressing their lips together. _Please don't think last night was a fluke, sweetheart._ “I'll see you in a few. Leave some hot water for me, okay?”

 

She swallowed and nodded, acting nearly as shy as she'd been when they first met, sitting up and trying to cover herself and then realizing that ship had pretty much sailed the night before. If it was up to him, clothes would be very optional in the future. She gave a tight smile before moving quickly but not quite running to the bathroom.

 

He laid back on the bed as he heard the water come on and sighed. He had to figure out a way for her to realize that this could work if she wanted it. But how to get her to understand that was beyond him.

 


	3. Kate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Please don't be afraid to comment. I'm also posting this on tumblr, look for @hellobitchpudding

Kate sat naked on the closed toilet seat while her shower filled the room with steam for what felt like an hour though it was probably only a few minutes. Jensen probably would have knocked on the door out of concern if she was in that long.

 

Oh god, Jensen.

 

She sighed and stood up, her stomach in knots over the whole thing. She slept with her boss! More than that, she slept with Jensen! Three years of building what felt like family between him and Jared and the rest of the cast and crew potentially about to go down the drain.

 

Just like all the water she was wasting.

 

Feeling guilty for that on top of everything else, she adjusted the water temperature so it wouldn’t feel like she was trying to bathe with pure liquid magma and stepped in. She closed her eyes and let the water flow over her while she worked herself up into what would probably be a pretty decent headache.

 

_Why are you so sure this was a mistake? So what if he’s your boss, he STARTED IT. Not the most mature of arguments but it’s fucking true. He kissed you! He ground his hips against you first! He was the one who threw you over his damn shoulder and carried you into the bedroom! That’s a pretty clear indicator of what he wanted. Nevermind how sweet and tender he was during and just now when you ran away from him like a scared little girl._

How could she not be scared right now? Her job as personal assistant, first to Jared and then to Jensen was everything to her. These people, not just them but Misha and Mark and Rob and Rich and their wives and their kids and the crew, they were everything to her. She didn’t have anything else. It was a miracle that Wendy Flanders had thought of her, knowing she was a fan of the show and encouraged her to try for the personal assistant position that’d opened. Another miracle was how quickly she’d hit it off with Jared even though she’d had no idea that he was the one what she was interviewing to work for.

 

Besides, what did she know about this kind of thing? The last time she’d been in anything close to a relationship had been before she’d gotten her damned doctorate and that was a long time ago. What happened now? Were they dating? Did people date anymore? Or was this a hook up? Hell, did people even use the term hook up anymore?

 

She was getting so frustrated just with her own thoughts and the circular logic that was only making her head pound more.

 

Looking down at her right wrist, she watched the water roll over her tattoo of a phoenix with the anti-possession symbol of the show within it’s flames and the initials for Jared’s mental health advocacy campaign, AKF, Always Keep Fighting in it’s tail. It was a tattoo she’d gotten before she’d ever even come to Vancouver for the job and something she didn’t show people necessarily because it was personal to her. The first time Jared saw it was a few days after she started working for him and was doing dishes in his trailer. He’d been so touched by it she’d thought he was going to cry.

 

Instead he nearly lifted her off her feet in a hug. It had surprised her then, now she could practically be a member of Nasa because she was very familiar with losing touch with the Earth thanks to not only Jared but Jensen and even Misha on occasion. Usually when a copious amount of sugar was involved.

 

She took a deep breath and then another, using her tattoo as a focusing point. One moment at a time, one hour at a time, one day at a time. She could do this. More importantly, she wasn’t going to let the negative thoughts of the Evil Duo, namely depression and anxiety control her life. Another deep breath. She could do this.

 

She reached for her favorite body wash and a loofah and went to work on actually washing. Why was she overthinking this? Why wasn’t she giving Jensen the benefit of a doubt that he deserved? Why did she assume that he of all people would reject her after a shared night like that? She should know so much better after everything of the last 3 years.

 

Why was her brain so adamant on assuming the worst after a night like that? She’d never felt so worshiped in her life. The way he’d kissed her, like she was the most delicate thing on the planet and then like he was in the desert and she was water. The way he touched her, so gentle but so possessive too. Like he was laying claim to her. Part of her dared to wonder if he’d thought about her the same way she’d thought about him just by the look in his eye and the things he’d said. She’d have lost her job a long time ago if anyone had been capable of reading her mind most of the time.

 

Her imagination was complete shit compared to the real thing.

 

There was no way that she could have ever imagined just what those lips would feel like against hers or any of a hundred different places on her body. Let alone that she would experience those lips at his initiation. The way he used them in concert with his teeth and tongue. Oh god, that tongue!

 

She shivered despite the heat of the shower.

 

But it was so much more that all of that. It was the way he held her, the way he looked at her like he was in as much disbelief as she was that this was happening at all. The way he tried to sooth her nerves by telling her it was just him and then the way he’d kissed the hell out of her when she admitted there was no just him for her.

 

It was the truth. She didn’t know quite when she’d fallen for the man but it’d been pretty fast. She’d felt guilty because he’d still been married at the time though it was a badly kept secret of how damaged the marriage was. She’d respected his privacy and never pressed him or anyone else to find out why his now ex had been the way she’d been. She’d only met the woman a few times despite practically being attached to Jared and Jensen at the hip nearly from the start. It had been very obvious very quickly that she was not wanted or liked. Neither was any other woman that came into contact with Jensen.

 

All she knew was that he’d had a rough time of it, during and after and she’d done her very best to be as good a friend to him as she could. All while trying not to be completely obvious about her almost teenage crush on the man.

 

And now here she was, hiding in her bathroom while Jensen was probably actually making breakfast in her kitchen. She sighed and turned off the shower, standing there a few minutes letting the remaining water drip off of her. She had to try and face this like an adult and not jump to conclusions. She wasn’t alone in this and Jensen was a good man, one of the best she’d ever met. He wouldn’t hurt her.

 

She stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself up in one towel and her hair in another, her mind flashing to the way Jensen had run his hands through it as they both lay panting in bed, the way he pressed his face into it and the way he gripped it in his hand at the base of her skull, kissing the hell out of her. She wondered, was there such a term as “hair play”? Because if there was, she’d totally be into that.

 

Oh god, was that what today was going to be? Sex Flashbacks Starring Jensen Ackles?

 

Might as well be. It’d been so long since the last time and she pretty sure that compared to Jensen, the other two guys she’d been with hadn’t had a clue what they were doing. At all. They’d been almost ridiculously inept. Jensen seemed to just know exactly what to do to drive her crazy. Was it experience or did he just know her that instinctively?

 

She stepped out into the bedroom to find it empty but strangely, the bed had been stripped. She’d had her light blue sheets on, hadn’t she? Turning her head, she saw that yes indeed, those sheets were in the laundry basket.

 

She blinked in surprise, looking back to where there were now lavender colored sheets. Had he really made the bed?

 

Shaking her head, she went to her dresser and dressed quickly. Today was definitely a day for her punk rock ripped Wayward AF shirt. A pair of jeans and a bit of brushing to the mess that was her hair and she was ready. For what, she had no idea.

 

Stepping out into the living room, she was met with a singular sight. There was Jensen in her kitchen, shirtless, just humming to himself while cooking at her stove that faced the living room. It was like it was something he did every day in how he looked so comfortable and at ease. Not to mention he seemed to have found everything he was looking for while she’d been in the shower.

 

She watched him for long minutes, taking in his concentration on what she was pretty sure was French toast while he hummed what she was pretty sure was Wham’s Wake Me Up. His hair, a bit longer than usual like it had been at the start of season 10 was still mussed completely and she wasn’t sure if that was from just sleeping or from his own hands or hers. She’d had her hands gripping those locks quite a bit last night.

 

“So you just going to stand there staring at me all day?”

 

She realized she’d actually been doing that and rolled her eyes. No more scared little girl. This was Jensen. There was no reason to be freaked. “I might, it’s my apartment. I can stare if I want.”

 

He smirked and waved the spatula and did a neck weave. “Whateva! Whateva! I do what I want!”

 

She laughed, that particular line from an episode of South Park always being one of her favorites. It was always a treat for Jensen to do his impression of it because he always gave it his all which included a mountain of sass. She walked over, her heart beating a little harder as now she was the one being watched as she moved to stand in the open doorway of her kitchenette. “Thanks for this. And making the bed. One would think you’ve been my bitch forever.”

 

His eyebrows rose together and he let out a bark of a laugh. “Keep it up, see where it gets you.”

 

“Well right now it gets you cooking me breakfast without a shirt on. I’m pretty happy with where it’s gotten me so far.”

 

He just chuckled and turned to dish the toast onto plates he had set on the counter when she saw it. His back.

 

_Oh my god, I did that?_

 

He turned back and saw the look on her face and stopped, putting the pan down. “What is it sweetheart?”

 

She didn’t say anything except to step over to him and put her hands on his shoulders, gently urging him to turn so he was facing away from her. His back was far from scourged but there were tale tell bruises that corresponded with scratches a few inches long. Putting her fingers to the scratches it was obvious what caused them. When had she done that?

 

Jensen turned, wrapping his own hand around her wrist before she could lower her arm, holding her hand to his chest, covering it with his other hand. “It’s okay, Kate. It doesn’t hurt.”

 

“I…I’ve just…” She could feel her cheeks warming. “I’m not exactly, you know, a scratch and biter. I feel bad, you have such a nice back too. I didn’t even know I did that.”

 

He gave her a half smile. “Funny the things we do mid-orgasm huh?”

 

“Jensen!” She whined, closing her eyes and knowing for a fact that her face was probably beet red. “Don’t tease me.”

 

“Not teasing, sweetheart. Kind of tooting my own horn actually if you think about it.” The hand that’d been holding her wrist let go and she felt him nudge her chin. “Open your eyes.”

 

She opened her eyes to find him looking down at her, very much like he had just the night before a few feet away by her coffeemaker. His eyes which had a tendency to change color, were a deep green. _God he’s beautiful._

 

“Kate, last night was amazing. I didn’t go to college, I don’t know how else to say it that does it justice. I’ve have you claw my whole back open to see you like that again, so primal and completely free.” His thumb gently traced her bottom lip. “I know this is whole new territory and really sudden. But I don’t have a single regret about last night. Not one. I hope you don’t either.”

 

She swallowed, looking away from those eyes that seemed to be able to read her mind. “I just…it’s me. I’m just me. And you’re…” She sighed. “Two PhDs and I don’t have the words.”

 

He gently nudged her with his finger again, making her look up at him just as he leaned in and kissed her, softly and slowly, pulling at her lips and letting her taste the coffee that he must have had before she made it to the kitchen. No doubt having saved time from her setting everything up last night before she was interrupted. She sighed against his sinfully soft lips, the hand he held against his chest flexing, her other resting on his side.

 

He slowly broke the kiss, again caressing her bottom lip with his thumb. “There’s no just you to me, Kate. Never has been.”


	4. Jensen

Jensen was quite willing to spend the day in bed but from the way Kate was acting, he was pretty sure that was probably not going to be his luck. He reluctantly got out of the bed, stretching and sighing as he still had the same problem he had before. Watching Kate scamper naked into her bathroom and imagining her in the shower was NOT helping.

 

Thankfully, he'd been to Kate's apartment more than once and knew that the guest room also had a half bathroom. That's all he needed. He made his way across the hall, feeling weird about walking around her apartment naked but it was just them, so it wasn't that weird, was it?

 

Once in there, he took care of some much needed business and splashed some very cold water on his face, taking a few moments himself to just breathe and mentally catch up. What could he do to help Kate who was clearly freaking more than a little bit?

 

Standing naked in her guest bathroom with the door open was probably not on the list.

 

He went back to the bedroom and managed to find his boxers and his jeans from the night before. He could take a shower after breakfast or whatever, that wasn't a big deal. Getting dressed that far at least, he looked at her bedroom and the bed that was more than a little destroyed thanks to their activities. He knew how much Kate liked things neat and orderly so he stripped the bed and put the sheets in the laundry basket in the corner and found the linen closet and picked out the sheet set that was on top and proceeded to make the bed. Everyone had their own little quirks about making the bed but he figured as long as it looked neat and clean, she'd appreciate it.

 

Pleased with himself, he turned on his heel and headed to start breakfast when something in a mirror Kate had hanging in the hallway caught his attention. Turning his back to it and looking over his own shoulder he smirked in amusement. “That little hellcat!” Kate at some point last night, no doubt mid-orgasm had managed not only to grip him so hard that he bruised but she'd left a scratch marks. Nothing too deep or too long, but noticeable.

 

Like she was marking him as hers.

 

Rather liking that idea, he continued into the kitchen where he grinned at the sight of the coffeemaker, half prepared to brew. _Thank you little coffeemaker. You helped make last night possible._ He stepped over and finished the last few steps before grabbing a mug from the glass cabinet above and putting it underneath. Coffee was awesome at combating morning breath.

 

Opening the fridge, he found it well stocked as would be expected being Kate. He wondered what she planned to do with all of this since he was pretty sure she'd be coming down to Texas for the annual Ackles-Padalecki Christmas Extravaganza. She had her own decent sized apartment there too, that had been her first Christmas gift from Jared. The man just couldn't stand the idea of her spending holidays and weekends and all that alone in Vancouver. Jensen still remembered the look of confusion and then awe on her face that Christmas morning. Jared had walked everyone over to the multi-car garage of his home and up the stairs to a door that had a bow on it. Then he handed Kate the key.

 

Maybe she wasn't planning on heading down right away? Or maybe she was thinking about going home to New York to see some old friends with her dad's orchestra? Sometimes he had a hard time remembering that Kate had indeed had a life before she met him and Jared.

 

Either way, he'd make use of some of this stuff now and make her some French toast. He didn't think she'd be up for a big complicated breakfast and this way, he wouldn't make too much of a mess. He smiled to himself as he grabbed the ready cup of coffee, inhaling the smell of the life giving brew. How long had it been since he'd actually cooked breakfast for a woman? Scratch that, cooked breakfast for a woman who appreciated it who wasn't his mom testing to make sure he could actually take care of himself without Kate there? His ex would have hated it, like she did most everything which was why she was very much his ex.

 

But what exactly was Kate?

 

The best assistant he'd ever had, that was for damn sure. He needed to thank Jared again for hiring her. She'd had no prior experience but somehow it seemed to be exactly what she needed and what Jared needed and then, eventually, what he needed. If anyone had told him when the show started that he'd end up having a classically trained musician with two PhDs in history as his assistant, he would have looked at them like they were demented.

 

But then he'd have no idea that he'd be part of a show that would actually help a lot of people deal with their everyday lives or even distract them from it. He didn't know that Jared would become a brother or start a mental health positive re-enforcement campaign that would speak to a broken woman who'd just lost her only remaining family member to cancer.

 

He shook his head, putting down his coffee and getting everything together for the french toast. How little he'd known when he first met her, walking onto set with Jared one morning that she'd end up fundamentally changing his own life.

 

Of course, he hadn't known when they'd gotten into his car last night that he'd end up making her breakfast after a night making love to her either. Go figure.

 

He grinned at that. It hadn't been fucking or just two people getting off. It'd been true intimacy. And he did love her he just wasn't really sure exactly how to define it. She was family, that much was certain. She'd earned her place in their demented cast and crew family near immediately. She'd earned a big place in his heart just for the way she showed so much care and affection for two overgrown manchildren, going far beyond what the average assistant would do. He was pretty sure that both he and Jared would be lost without her, something Gen and most everyone who witnessed Kate in action as an assistant concluded very quickly.

 

He hummed to himself, enjoying the simple pleasure of a leisurely homemade breakfast when something made him look up to see Kate standing in the living room, dressed in one of Kim's Wayward AF shirts that had an 80s feel to it with a torn collar that nearly fell off one shoulder. She had to be a million miles away being that she hadn't noticed that he'd noticed, hopefully her mind was lost in a happy place and the shower had helped calm her down a bit.

 

“So you just going to stand there staring at me all day?” He asked finally, his curiosity finally winning over.

 

She jumped a little, not realizing how she'd been staring off and rolled her eyes at him. “I might, it's my apartment. I can stare if I want.”

 

He smirked. There she was, there was his girl. Sassy and sarcastic, just like him. He waved the spatula in his hand and did a neck weave to counter her sass with his own. “Whateva! Whateva! I do what I want!”

 

She laughed, a sound that was one of his favorites, especially that morning. He figured all she needed was some time to wrap her head around things. It was how she worked and why she worked so well with him and Jared. They were very similar in that regard. He watched her make her way over, moving to stand in the open doorway of the small kitchen only a few feet away. “Thanks for this. And making the bed. One would think you've been my bitch forever.”

 

 _Oh yeah, she's back._ He thought, laughing in amusement as he raised his eyebrows at her. It had been what had endeared her to Rich who took great joy in seeing how well people could keep up with his own rapid fire wit. The fact that she could not only keep up but had often shut him down, one time leaving Matt Cohen in a fetal position on the floor crying in laughter had made both him and Jared so very proud of their assistant. “Keep it up, see where it gets you.”

 

“Well right now it gets you cooking me breakfast without a shirt on. I'm pretty happy with where it's gotten me so far.”

 

Oh, so she was enjoying the view he was giving her? He hadn't even thought about being without a shirt in front of her, she'd practically seen him naked before even last night. Such was the life of an assistant. That included the infamous week known forever with the Supernatural cast and crew as Operation Full Moon. He was still proud of that, chuckling at the memory of her repeated reactions to not only him mooning her, but Jared and Misha too. She'd gotten her revenge but man, it'd been worth it. Just the way they'd managed to get her to the point of sounding like him with an emphatic pronounced son of a bitch had made the potential sexual harassment suit worth it.

 

He turned to dish the toast onto plates he had set on the counter when he heard her gasp out of nowhere. He turned back and a look of shock and almost guilt on her face. Where'd that come from? He put down the pan in his confusion. “What is it sweetheart?”

 

She silently stepped over to him, reaching up with her small hands to touch his shoulders,urging him to turn so he was facing away from her. It was when he felt her fingertips around the area where she'd bruised and slightly scratched him that he realized what she'd reacted to. She didn't realize that she'd scratched his back with her nails last night. Hell, he hadn't realized it either until he saw it in the mirror.

 

Jensen turned, seeing the look in her eye that she was already beating herself up for hurting him even a little. It was a bit of a stroke to his ego that he'd managed to make her lose control in a way she hadn't before, apparently. He didn't know the details of her past sex life other than it'd been an obscenely long time since she'd been with anyone, an almost unbelievable amount of time from his perspective. How had no one been pursuing this woman like she deserved?

 

He wrapping his own hand around her wrist before she could lower her arm, holding her hand to his chest, covering it with his other hand. One thing he'd learned about her in the last three years was one way to help her focus and move past her anxiety was physical contact. That and he had been itching to touch her again ever since she'd gotten out of bed. “It's okay, Kate. It doesn't hurt.”

 

“I...I've just...” Her pale Irish cheeks pinked in embarrassment and she stumbled over her words. Okay, so maybe she was still working on dealing with what'd occurred between them. Understandable. “I'm not exactly, you know, a scratch and biter. I feel bad, you have such a nice back too. I didn't even know I did that.”

 

He gave her a half smile. Did she have any idea just how much he really wouldn't mind if she decided to bite him, especially if it was to keep herself from screaming? He'd always wanted to see just how soundproof his trailer was. Before his mind could take him down a very kinky road, he focused on the woman in front of him. “Funny the things we do mid-orgasm huh?”

 

“Jensen!” She whined, nearly stamping her foot, closing her eyes as her cheeks grew even more flushed. “Don't tease me.”

 

“Not teasing, sweetheart. Kind of tooting my own horn actually if you think about it.” He thought it was sweet that despite everything the night before, she was still shy about talking about it. Considering there'd been a few times where he'd lost track of where she stopped and he began, to be shy now was adorably redundant. “Open your eyes.”

 

She opened her eyes and he was taken away by how strikingly pale blue they were. _Damn, I am one lucky lucky son of a bitch._

 

“Kate, last night was amazing. I didn't go to college, I don't know how else to say it that does it justice. I've have you claw my whole back open to see you like that again, so primal and completely free.” He touched her bottom lip with his thumb, trying his best to use his words when all he wanted to do was kiss her. She couldn't get away with morning breath now but he didn't want to drive her away by being too heavy handed. “I know this is whole new territory and really sudden. But I don't have a single regret about last night. Not one. I hope you don't either.”

 

She visibly swallowed, breaking eye contact as she had a tendency to do when she was nervous. He'd thought she'd been joking when early on when they'd been getting to know each other she'd commented that he had a way of looking at people that made her feel like he was able to read minds. Was she afraid of what he'd see in her eyes? “I just...it's me. I'm just me. And you're...” She sighed. “Two PhDs and I don't have the words.”

 

He had no idea how someone like her could be so incredibly blind to who she really was but it was that modesty that he also found refreshing. How many women had he known over the years, including his ex, had been convinced the sun itself shined out of their asses? Not Kate though. She was Little Miss Overly Humble.

 

He gently nudged her with his finger again, making her look up at him. He gave up on finding the words that they were both having trouble with and just leaned in and kissed her. He kept it gentle and slow, hoping she'd get a sense of what he was trying to say without saying it. He could taste her toothpaste and smiled against her lips wondering if she could taste the coffee he'd finally gotten to that morning. She let out a soft sigh, her hand flexing against his chest, probably without her even realizing it. She'd had a death grip on his shirt the night before when they'd had the first of many kisses in this kitchen.

 

He broke the kiss reluctantly, telling himself there would be more. He knew there would be just from the way she kissed him back. “There's no just you to me, Kate. Never has been.” He rephrased the words that'd touched him so deeply the night before. It wasn't an I love you, not that kind of I love you anyway. She expressed that particular phrase to him many times over the last few years, mostly in the friendly affectionate way but now he began to wonder if maybe there'd been a bit more to it. Not just from her but from him too.

 

Maybe his ex had been right to be jealous of her like she had been.

 


	5. Kate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For SupernaturalLover1994 for taking the time to comment...thank you!

“Come on.” Jensen entreated, pressing a kiss to her forehead like he’d done hundreds of times before. Of course that hadn’t been after romantically kissing her while shirtless in her kitchen but that was just mere detail. “Let’s eat while it’s still warm. I didn’t know how hungry you’d be so I just made French toast. Is that okay?”

She gave him a smile. Did he really think it wouldn’t be? She wondered if other women in his life had appreciated just how sweet he really could be. And here she had been panicking for absolutely no reason. “It’s perfect, thank you. I see you had some coffee finally.”

He gave her a grin, moving the plates of food to her small kitchen table. She loved the genuine feeling in his smiles, especially how his eyes crinkled. That it was directed at her had amazed her more than once, today was no exception. “Yeah, finally. No sexy women distracting me this time.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “Yeah yeah.”

They busied themselves with preparing their plates, she slathering her toast with butter while Jensen all but drowned his in maple syrup. She didn’t mind the taste of the stuff and while it was the apparent lifeblood of her adopted home, it wasn’t her favorite topping. She took a bite of the toast, not surprised at all that Jensen was a good cook. He might joke that he was a helpless manchild but he was just as much of a nurturer as she was. He liked taking care of people he cared about and going the extra mile for them.

Which was why Jared’s kids along with Misha’s and Mark’s and everyone else’s were all incredibly spoiled by “Unca Jensen” as Tom Padalecki still pronounced it.

“Is it good?”

She smiled, swallowing before she answered. “It’s delicious, honey. Really.”

He tilted his head, a little smile on his face. “You know you haven’t called me llama all morning. Are you sure you haven’t been replaced with a pod person?”

“I thought you didn’t like it when I called you llama.” She countered with a raised eyebrow. The nickname had come from a series of internet videos she’d found, including on that’d put a strange song about llamas to a number of scenes from Supernatural. Somehow it just seemed to make sense to just call Jensen that rather than something else like Squirrel or whatever. With Jared, Moose made sense and he’d more than embraced the nickname.

“I never said I didn’t like it. I don’t like it when other people call me llama.” He playfully shrugged, using his fork to swirl a piece of toast in a small river of syrup. “Only you can call me llama.”

“Aww, that’s sweet. Thank you.” She was actually very touched by it, strangely enough. It was like a pet name now more than a nickname. “You haven’t called me Momma either you know.”

He laughed, swallowing the syrup drenched toast he’d been chewing. “Well one, Jared and Misha and well, half the guys call you that too and so that makes it a little less personal. Two, it’s more of an affectionate teasing nickname rather than a sexy time nickname. Three, you know the whole daddy thing creeps me out, how do you think I’d feel about the other side of it?”

She snorted, covering her mouth with one hand. It was too bad the fans only got a mere glimpse of just how cute Jensen could really be. The Momma nickname had started with Jared pretty soon after she’d been hired when she’d brought him and Jensen orange juice and cold medicine after they’d done half a night of filming in freezing cold rain and wind and insisted they both take hot showers to warm up. After that, it just stuck. She couldn’t help it if she had an overly developed maternal instinct.

Jensen’s dislike for being called “daddy” by the fans or more so, his ex, was pretty well known by the cast and crew which was why most of the Supernatural female cast made a point of occasionally teasing him with it. Kim had the crown for the game at the moment, having managed to make him turn bright red and walk away the last time she’d done an episode. That of course led to Jared carrying the woman around on his shoulder in triumph.

He made a face and finished off the last bit of his own French toast. “It’s not funny, it’s creepy!”

She gave him a smile, admiring the way the defused light from the overcast Vancouver day cast over him and made his eyes stand out. “It’s a little funny.”

He was about to say something else when there was a rapid knock at her front door and they both jumped in surprise, far from expecting the interruption. Who the hell was knocking at her door?

“KATE! It’s us! Did you lose your phone? Did you forget about today?”

Her jaw dropped. Oh shit. It was Kim.

Jensen looked at her in confusion. “Did you have plans today?”

She put her face in her hands as she nodded. “I totally forgot. I’m supposed to go shopping with Kim and Briana today. Shit.” She stood up, using her fingertips to wipe at her mouth. “Just give me a second, I’ll tell them another day.”

Jensen was quick to pop up. “No no. I want you to go if you made plans. Come on, we can have some fun at their expense while we’re at it.”

It was when he flexed his elbows that she knew he already had an idea of what he wanted to do. He was infamous for “comedy elbows”, throwing his arms out right before he did or said something he thought was funny.

“Honey, what are you thinking?”

He gave her a grin, taking a quick step forward and giving her a maple syrup flavored kiss. “You’ll see.” The girls knocked again, this time Briana calling out and he nodded, like it was just what he needed them to do for the bit. “Tell them you’re coming….but try to sound out of breath. Trust me.”

It was probably not the smartest thing but she did trust the man. She paused a moment before calling out, “I’m…I’m coming! Hold on!” Just as she was saying on, Jensen grabbed at her sides, making her laugh right outloud thanks to being way too ticklish.

He just gave her a wink after that and headed for the door himself, mussing his hair a bit more and hopping up and down a little to get himself a little out of breath. His final touch before he opened the door was to undo his jeans and tug them down a bit for effect. He was still covered, thanks to his briefs but it would look like he’d just quickly yanked the clothes on to anyone else.

Opening the door, he greeted the two women almost breathily. “Oh, hey ladies. I didn’t know you were coming over.”

It was all Kate could do not to bark out laughing at the look of first confusion and then utter shock on the faces of the two older women. She covered her mouth with both hands as they looked at Jensen and his state of undress and how out of breath he was and fumbled for words. She took a deep breath and adjusted her shirt so it definitely went off of her shoulder and rushed over to the door. “Oh god, hey. Hi! I’m sorry, I just….I got busy…and I forgot you were coming over!”

Jensen moved back to wrap his arm around her and she made a show of zipping him up while he shrugged and said oops to the pair who were still in shock. Hopefully they didn’t notice her hands hesitate just that little bit. It didn’t help when Jensen angled his hips toward her slightly either.

“Umm, if you want to…reschedule?” Briana began to question before being elbowed sharply by Kim.

“Jensen! Hi! We had no idea you were here! We had this shopping thing planned with Kate for a while now. You don’t mind if we steal her from you for a bit, do you? It’s just this is practically the only day we could get together for some girl time. Right Bri?” Kim had been quicker to recover from the shock of a half naked Jensen at her door.

“Oh yeah. You bet. Only time. Busy busy.”

“Sweetheart, I got stuff to do today anyway. I should probably check and make sure Jared’s still breathing and everything.”

“Are you sure?” Kate asked, knowing that she was going to get the Spanish Inquisition of gossip demands from the two. Did he really not mind her taking off like this?

“Yeah.” He gave her a nod. “Have your girls day.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back, I just have to do a couple things to get ready.”

He gave her a smile and she headed back for the bedroom. She managed to get in the room itself and close the door behind her before she cracked up laughing. As quietly as she could of course. She wished she’d had her phone, just for the look on the girls’ faces!

She didn’t listen in as she could hear that they were talking out in the living room and busied herself instead with changing into a long sleeved shirt with her old SUNY Albany History Department t-shirt over it and put on socks and sneakers. Not the most fabulous of outfits but neither Kim or Briana were very high maintenance and she learned the hard way to dress for comfort when shopping with them. It was practically an Olympic sport. Besides, if she was going to get the third degree, she might as well be comfortable.

It was when she was fixing her hair that she heard the door close and paused for a moment. Was that Jensen leaving? No, he wouldn’t just leave like that. She moved to the window, her bedroom thankfully being on the same side of the apartment as her building’s front door and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the two actresses exit and get in what looked like Kim’s Audi after doing a strange little giddy hug dance.

Oh man was she in for it if they were that giddy about her having had sex with Jensen. Or maybe it was seeing him in a state of undress like that. She knew she’d mentally had that reaction more than once.

She headed back out into the living room where Jensen was gathering their dishes and bringing them over to the sink with a very amused look on his face. He was feeling pretty cocky about his little prank going so well. He had a very specific twist to his lips, one she knew too well from the week where she’d been repeatedly mooned as a prank. “Where were they going?”

“They said they’d meet you down at Brannigans. I remembered that you don’t exactly have your car, it’s back on the lot. Do you want to borrow mine? I could get a cab and get yours or whatever.”

“It’s okay there, to be honest. I can get it tomorrow or something. Brannigans is right down the street, I could use the walk.” She stepped over to where he’d just turned on the hot water and took a breath before boldly wrapping her arms around him and resting her cheek against his smooth back. She rested her hands against his skin, feeling the muscles underneath react to her touch. “You sure you don’t mind me going out with them? You know I’m going to get interrogated.”

He turned off the water and put his hands over hers. “Sweetheart, I’m not the kinda guy who goes around telling a woman what she can and can’t do.” He turned and wrapped his own arms around her, leaning back against the sink. “I will say that I think it might be good for you to go out. You had plans, you should keep them. Besides, I bet girl time, interrogation or not, is good for you.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead and then her nose. “Just don’t let them force you into saying more than you want. You do have a right to some privacy, even with them.”

She looked up at him, her heart swelling with how wonderful he was being. She’d known of too many men who seemed to think that their penis was some kind of leash to a woman and to be fair, she’d known a few women who thought the same of their vaginas. She really appreciated that he was letting her set the pace. “What are you going to tell Jared?”

He shrugged. “I’m not going to volunteer much and even then, no details. I already share you with him as an assistant, I want to have something of you just for me.”

She smiled at that and leaned up just as he was leaning down and they shared a slow lazy kiss full of affection and a bit of promise. “Keep it up, Mr. Ackles and I’m going to end up keeping you.”

“Ooh. I’m so scared. Really. What a horrible fate.” He teased in a monotone with a quirk to his lip. “Come by my place tonight when you girls are done doing whatever.” He entreated, his fingers absently stroking her spine through her shirt. Such a simple affectionate gesture and it meant the world to her. “We can have dinner.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded with an impish smile. “Yeah.”

“Okay. If you want to use my shower or whatever, go for it. Just lock the door when you leave?”

His impish smile grew. “I think I can handle that. You better go before they come back hoping they’ll walk in on something.”

She rolled her eyes and smacked him on his chest with the back of her hand with no real malice to it. “You’d probably be willing to scar them with a show too. You do realize they are probably texting anyone we’ve ever known that they can right? Misha probably is trying to plan the perfect tweet.”

He laughed. “What, like this is ever going to be a secret? Come on now.” He stepped back and took her by the shoulders over to the door where her coat was hanging next to his. “Go on. Make sure you tell them something decent. Like you don’t know how you are able to walk now or something.”

She snorted, waiting till he put her coat on over her shoulders before shoving him a little. “Jensen! I’m not going to say that. I’ll be much more ladylike.” She put her hands over her lower stomach and made a face of pain. “Christ I think he ruptured something!”

Jensen wasn’t even able to make a noise, he just collapsed on the floor, his face completely scrunched up as he gasped for breath. She smirked in triumph as he waved at the door and managed to giggle out the words, “I’ll see….I’ll see you tonight.” He snorted, wiping at his eyes. “Rupture. Oh man.”


	6. Jensen

“Come on.” Jensen entreated, pressing a kiss to her forehead like he'd done hundreds of times before. He couldn't help it, she made him want to be affectionate. That and kissing her forehead wouldn't have him forgetting about the food he just made and carrying her back to the bedroom like he did last night. Well, less than kissing that sweet little mouth again would. “Let's eat while it's still warm. I didn't know how hungry you'd be so I just made French toast. Is that okay?”

 

The smile she gave him made his stomach flip a bit. It was a strange feeling but a welcome one. He knew she was the kind of woman that appreciated the small things, even just a quick breakfast. “It's perfect, thank you. I see you had some coffee finally.”

 

He grinned. She did notice the taste of coffee then! He grabbed the two plates of food and brought them over to her little kitchen table where he'd already set out orange juice, condiments and silverware. He was pretty decent at this stuff when he had the chance to do it. “Yeah, finally. No sexy women distracting me this time.”

 

She laughed, shaking her head. “Yeah yeah.”

 

He watched her in his periphery as he put a generous amount of maple syrup on his own plate while she slathered on a good amount of butter to her own toast. Like the coffee, he was pretty sure she only had the maple syrup because if him and Jared. She'd probably joke it was mandatory in order to live in Canada. He couldn't help but think how nice it was, right then to be having a rather late breakfast after a rather exhausting night. No demands, no expectations or anything. Just relaxing and enjoying a meal together, like regular people.

 

“Is it good?” He asked, tasting a bit himself to make sure it wasn't completely horrible and to cover for watching her like he did. He couldn't help it. He was overwhelmed with a need to want to make her smile and make her happy. He didn't want her anxiety to show up again or for her to worry about what came next.

 

She smiled, swallowing before she answered. “It's delicious, honey. Really.”

 

Honey. Then he realized something and almost laughed how he hadn't noticed it until now. “You know you haven't called me llama all morning. Are you sure you haven't been replaced with a pod person?”

 

“I thought you didn't like it when I called you llama.” She replied, giving him a look like she didn't quite believe he'd brought up the lack of the nickname on his own. He'd seen the internet video that she'd gotten it from and it was funny and a little weird. But it was better than being called squirrel. He actually kind of liked it in that it was unique. Honey was something you could call anyone. That's probably part of the reason Jared had embraced the whole moose thing, besides it starting on the show.

 

“I never said I didn't like it. I don't like it when other people call me llama.” He decided to admit, playing with his food. Had he made it seem like he didn't like it? He wouldn't have minded a sexier animal, like tiger but llama was really a Kate thing, so it didn't bother him so much. “Only you can call me llama.”

 

“Aww, that's sweet. Thank you.” She paused, a smile still on her lips. “You haven't called me Momma either you know.”

 

He laughed, swallowing the syrup drenched toast he'd been chewing. She was right, he hadn't called her Momma like he normally might but he had his reasons. “Well one, Jared and Misha and well, half the guys call you that too and so that makes it a little less personal. Two, it's more of an affectionate teasing nickname rather than a sexy time nickname. Three, you know the whole daddy thing creeps me out, how do you think I'd feel about the other side of it?”

 

She snorted, covering her mouth with one hand. She only had a tendency to snort when something truly amused her. Thankfully it was a delicate snort. There'd been a camera guy who sounded like he'd just inhaled a small bird when he snorted, which was all the time, a few years ago.

 

He hadn't meant to babble on like that but he also knew that he could actually talk to Kate and she'd listen, unlike so many people in the industry. He'd learned that the hard way when he was starting out and had ended up becoming a bit more selective about how he spoke to people because you never knew who was going to leak a story to the press or start a rumor about you. He could trust Kate and he had trusted her since they met. Her nickname of Momma didn't just come from the way she took care of him and Jared but also from how protective she was. That was especially true when it came to reporters and bloggers writing articles. No time more than right around the time of his divorce.

 

As for the daddy thing, that'd always creeped him out even though he knew there were guys out there who liked it. To him it just said something about father issues and complexes and a bunch of really deep seated psychological issues he didn't even want to think about. Some people might like it and that was fine, but not him.

 

Of course that didn't stop the Wayward girls and he still needed to think of a way to get back at Kim for making him blush like she did when they were filming the last episode she guested on. And get back at Jared for treating her like a queen for managing to get him to blush that noticeably. He made a face, not happy he'd had such a reaction in front of people and finished off the last bit of his own French toast. “It's not funny, it's creepy!”

 

She gave him a smile, one full of affection for that little quirk of his. It was like Jared's utter hatred of the word moist. Ooh. There were options with that. Where could he get a megaphone? “It's a little funny.”

 

He was about to say something else when there was a rapid knock at her front door and they both jumped in surprise, far from expecting the interruption. Who the hell was knocking at her door? He hadn't checked his phone and he doubted she'd had the chance since he was pretty sure her phone was in her jacket over by the door. Was it Jared, wondering if she was alright and if she'd seen him anywhere?

 

“KATE! It's us! Did you lose your phone? Did you forget about us?” Kim Rhodes, the bane of his embarrassment over a stupid word, called through the door. Of course the only us she could be referring to was herself and “wifey” as she called Briana Buckmaster. The two had costarred in the same episode and it was as instant a connection as it was between him and Jared.

 

He lifted his eyebrows in surprise as Kate's jaw dropped. “Did you make plans today?”

 

It wasn't like Kate to forget plans with someone considering most of her job as an assistant was making sure that neither he or Jared missed an appointment and were wherever they needed to be when they needed to be there. She kept a meticulous schedule, one that Misha took great joy in occasionally messing with by penciling in fake appointments just because he could. She never fell for it, it was more of a game of him actually gaining access to her planner like messing with Misha's car was a challenge to Jared.

 

She put her face in her hands as she nodded. “I totally forgot. I'm supposed to go shopping with Kim and Briana today. Shit.” She stood up, using her fingertips to wipe at her mouth. “Just give me a second, I'll tell them another day.”

 

He was quick to stand up too. He didn't want her canceling anything on account of him. He knew how much she enjoyed spending time with the two actresses as much as she enjoyed time spent with Gen. There were times he and Jared and the rest of the guys had to remember that there were times she'd actually want to spent with fellow women, not just them all the time. Even better, he could potentially get his vengeance on Kim for her little daddy comment while he was at it. “No no. I want you to go if you made plans. Come on, we can have some fun at their expense while we're at it.”

 

He planned it out in his head, knowing exactly how he could do it and it'd be utterly classic. He stretched his arms, half realizing he was doing that stupid comedy elbows thing Rich had come up with at a convention. It didn't matter, this was going to be perfect.

 

“Honey, what are you thinking?”

 

He gave her a grin, taking a quick step forward and giving her a maple syrup flavored kiss to calm her trepidation. “You'll see.” The girls knocked again, this time Briana calling out and he nodded, perfect. They probably thought Kate was potentially still asleep after the party and hadn't heard them either call or knock before. “Tell them you're coming....but try to sound out of breath. Trust me.”

 

She gave him a look like she knew trusting him could be potentially dangerous but he knew she did trust him. She paused and took a few deep breaths before she called out. “I'm...I'm coming! Hold on!” Just as she was saying hold on, he surprised her by grabbing her sides and tickling her. She was infamously ticklish, something she made a mistake of letting them know when they were first getting to know her. Even better, she had a great loud laugh and if you tickled her just right, she'd shriek.

 

He just gave her a grin after that and headed for the door himself, mussing his hair a bit more and hopping up and down a little to get himself a little out of breath. Just before he opened the door, a genius thought hit him and he stopped to undo his jeans and tug them down a bit for effect. All he needed was to make it look like he'd stumbled out of bed, namely Kate's bed and had barely managed to pull on pants to answer the door.

 

Opening the door, he greeted the two women with a bit of a pant in his tone but not too much because they'd never believe he was that out of shape. No, he wanted them to think they'd interrupted something sexy. “Oh, hey ladies. I didn't know you were coming over.”

 

Perfection. The two women, known for their quick razor sharp wits and tongues were struck silent. You could almost hear them making assumptions in their head. Assumptions that technically weren't entirely wrong. He had to fight not to smirk as they both struggled to get to the point of speaking.

 

Then Kate did something he didn't expect but he fully planned on thanking her for later and repeatedly at some point.

 

Almost like they'd planned it ahead of time, she dashed over, her Wayward AF shirt completely fallen over her shoulder, her own hair mussed like it'd had hands that weren't hers in it. She even acted out a breath. As a director, he couldn't have been happier. “Oh god, hey. Hi! I'm sorry, I just....I got busy...and I forgot you were coming over!”

 

He managed not to laugh at her phrasing, no doubt completely pun intended and moved back to wrap his arm around her. He nearly proposed right there as she made a show of zipping him up, like she'd done it before or something. He kept his cool, even tilting his hips toward her a little provocatively for effect. He desperately wanted to kiss the hell out of her for her ability to do improv and just shrugged at the still stunned actresses and pretended like he hadn't realized he'd been undone. “Oops.”

 

“Umm, if you want to...reschedule?” Briana began to question before being elbowed sharply by Kim.

 

“Jensen! Hi! We had no idea you were here! We had this shopping thing planned with Kate for a while now. You don't mind if we steal her from you for a bit, do you? It's just this is practically the only day we could get together for some girl time. Right Bri?” Kim had been quicker to recover and it was very obvious she desperately wanted to know just what exactly happened from when they'd left the party last night to when he answered Kate's door out of breath and half naked.

 

“Oh yeah. You bet. Only time. Busy busy.” Briana mumbled, her eyes still wide. One would think she was challenging her character of Donna.

 

Jensen turned to Kate who, bless her heart, was standing there as comfortable as could be with her fingers holding a loop on his jeans. “Sweetheart, I got stuff to do today anyway. I should probably check and make sure Jared's still breathing and everything.” It was the truth. Even though the details of last night were very private, he still needed to talk to Jared about the change and what it could potentially mean. Kate was his assistant too and more than that, Jared was very protective of her. He was probably going to be threatened repeatedly and asked more than once what his intentions were. Nevermind what Gen was going to do to him. Christ.

 

“Are you sure?” Kate asked sweetly. They hadn't had a chance to talk about what they wanted to do for the day. Well he knew what he wanted to do but much of that had depended on what she wanted. Like having to take another shower and change the sheets again after what he wanted to do.

 

“Yeah.” He said but honestly didn't 100% mean. He'd kind of hoped to have her to himself after last night but he had a feeling she needed some time for herself, even if it was with two of the biggest gossips in the Supernatural family. Next to Misha and Rich that was.

 

“Okay. I'll be right back, I just have to do a couple things to get ready.”

 

He gave her a smile and she headed back for the bedroom. He turned back to the two women and stepped aside. “Wanna come in to wait for her?”

 

They both stepped in silently and waited until he shut the door before Kim spoke up a serious look in her eye. “Come on Ackles, what's going on? Funny is funny but something tells me you answering the door or being here at all is more than it looks. What's going on?”

 

He crossed his arms over his chest. Uh oh. Protective momma bear mode engaged. “What business is it of yours?”

 

“She's my friend and probably one of the sweeter people I've ever met in my life.” Kim put her hand through her punked out hair. “Just tell me this isn't a one and done because I don't care, I will gut you personally if you hurt her.”

 

He couldn't help but smile at the absolute honesty in the woman's voice. He was glad that even though Kate tended to be a little reserved at times to the point of being an introvert, she had friends like Kim, Briana and the other Supernatural ladies who looked out for her. Kate wasn't naive to what the industry could be like, she'd grown up in a form of show business with her father's orchestra and then when she went to Julliard. But it was good to have someone looking out for you just the same.

 

Briana stepped up, crossing her arms like his. “Yeah, come on. Did you guys get together finally?”

 

He raised his eyebrows. Finally?

 

“Oh don't even try to pretend you two haven't had this unresolved sexual tension for years now. Just don't hurt her, Jenny-poo. Seriously. There are a lot of places in Canada to hide a body.”

 

He sighed. He hated when anyone called him Jenny, not that it happened very often. “Give me some credit, would you? I've never been that kind of guy. I'd never hurt her. I'm not telling you anything beyond that. That's between us and whatever she chooses to tell you.” He paused. “Just don't push her, okay?”

 

That seemed to appease the pair. “Alright, fine. We'll get the details from Kate. Tell her to meet us at Brannigans. That way you two can talk a little and you can think about putting on a shirt.” Kim said, physically turning Briana who just grinned and wiggled her eyebrows at him back to the door. “You know, I thought I saw your car but I didn't think anything of it. Where's hers?”

 

He groaned and put the heel of his hand to his forehead. “Fuck. It's still on the lot. I was worried about her driving home with a bunch of drunks on the road so I drove her here myself.”

 

“Brannigans is down the street and we carpool shop anyway. No worries.” Briana spoke up.

 

“Later, lover boy.” Kim teased as she headed out and he closed the door behind them.

 

Sighing he shook his head and headed back to the kitchen where the remains of their breakfast were. At least they got to eat before the girls showed up. At least he'd gotten to shock the hell out of them. He smirked. If only he could have recorded it. It definitely would have been one of his best moments in terms of last minute pranking. Knowing those two, a video of it wouldn't be needed, they'd probably end up telling the story, albeit a carefully edited version for Kate's sake at a convention. He'd just gotten the dishes to the sink when he heard Kate behind him. “Where were they going?”

 

He turned a little and answered. “They said they'd meet you down at Brannigans. I remembered that you don't exactly have your car, it's back on the lot. Do you want to borrow mine? I could get a cab and get yours or whatever.”

 

He didn't want to leave her without a car. He hadn't even thought about that last night when he offered to take her home. He'd been so focused on what a good time he'd been having and how he didn't want it to end that he didn't think about how they hadn't arrived at the party together. He turned back to the sink and turned on the water. He was so thankful he didn't make a bigger mess. He hated dishes.

 

“It's okay there, to be honest. I can get it tomorrow or something. Brannigans is right down the street, I could use the walk.” He closed his eyes as she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her soft cheek to his back. Oh this he could definitely get used to. She was already affectionate but this was so much more and even more, showed how much she trusted him. “You sure you don't mind me going out with them? You know I'm going to get interrogated.”

 

He turned off the water and put his hands over hers. Her hands were so tiny compared to his, had she really managed to bruise him with these tiny fingers? “Sweetheart, I'm not the kinda guy who goes around telling a woman what she can and can't do.” He turned and wrapped his own arms around her, leaning back against the sink. As much as he wanted to keep her here in his arms, he knew better. “I will say that I think it might be good for you to go out. You had plans, you should keep them. Besides, I bet girl time, interrogation or not, is good for you.”

 

He leaned in and kissed her forehead and then her nose and stopped from going further. No point in getting himself worked up. “Just don't let them force you into saying more than you want. Whatever you want to keep just between us is up to you.”

 

She looked up at him with approval in her eyes. He appreciated that he was letting her set the pace and he wasn't being a stage 4 clinger. Well, he wasn't acting on that impulse anyway. “What are you going to tell Jared?”

 

He shrugged. He was going to try his best to tell his best friend as little as he could out of respect for her but she already knew that they knew just about everything about each other. To the point of almost being gross. “I'm not going to volunteer and even then, no details. I already share you with him as an assistant, I want to have something of you just for me.”

 

She smiled at that and leaned up. He took the sign and leaned down, pressing his lips to hers in a slow sensual kiss that made him want to just kiss her for hours now that he could. Did she have any idea how many times he'd stopped himself from kissing her like this over the years? Even before he was divorced and he wasn't even that kind of guy. “Keep it up, Mr. Ackles and I'm going to end up keeping you.”

 

“Ooh. I'm so scared. What a horrible fate. Really.” He teased in a playful monotone though he felt tingly just by the look in her eyes when she said those words. She already had him, didn't she know that? “Come by my place tonight when you girls are done doing whatever.” He invited, suddenly hit with a stroke of genius. Breakfast had worked out pretty well, why not do dinner too? And if she just happened to stay over, then all the better. “We can have dinner.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

He nodded with an impish smile. She was reading his mind, he just knew it. “Yeah.”

 

“Okay. If you want to use my shower or whatever, go for it. Just lock the door when you leave?”

 

He grinned, liking how domestic and couple-y that sounded. “I think I can handle that. You better go before they come back hoping they'll walk in on something.”

 

She rolled her eyes and smacked him on his chest with the back of her hand with no real malice to it. “You'd probably be willing to scar them with a show too. You do realize they are probably texting anyone we've ever known that they can right? Misha probably is trying to plan the perfect tweet.”

 

He laughed. She was sadly probably very right. Technically they were all adults but in reality they were mentally mostly junior high kids. He wondered, did she think he'd be upset by their friends finding out about them? “What, like this is ever going to be a secret? Come on now .” He stepped back and took her by the shoulders over to the door where her coat was hanging next to his. He wanted her to go and see the girls before she started overthinking things. Or he did. “Go on. Make sure you tell them something decent. Like you don't know how you are able to walk now or something.”

 

She rewarded him with another delicate snort, shoving him playfully once he got her coat on her shoulders. “Jensen! I'm not going to say that. I'll be much more ladylike.” She put her hands over her lower stomach and made a face of pain. “Christ I think he ruptured something!”

 

He couldn't even laugh outloud, he just dropped to the floor and gasped for air. If she kept this up, he was going to kidnap her and take her to Vegas tonight. He looked up and saw a proud little smirk on her lips and he waved at the door and managed to giggle out the words, “I'll see....I'll see you tonight.” He snorted, wiping at his eyes. “Rupture. Oh man.”

 


	7. Kate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please if you are enjoying this story, comment please! I'm very friendly, I swear. Feedback helps me write, without it I figure no one is really reading or enjoying the story. Thanks!

Kate took a deep breath of the crisp Vancouver air. It was definitely December in Canada. She'd gotten used to the cold though, as much as she could. Just the same, she was looking forward to going back to the States for a few weeks for Christmas. She'd amassed quite the collection of hoodies including some that had started out belonging to Jared and others that had been Jensen's at some point. She couldn't help it if they offered her their hoodies like gentlemen and then didn't ask for them back.

 

Smiling to herself she started walking down the street, resisting the urge to look up at her own windows to see if Jensen was looking. It was weird how giddy she felt and it was so much better than when she first woke up and had felt that knot of panic in her stomach. She still had a ton of unanswered questions about the whole thing but she at the very least she knew it hadn't been a mistake. She didn't feel like that and neither did Jensen.

 

Oh the way he'd been so earnest about telling her he didn't have a single regret! She knew when he was acting and that wasn't acting. She'd wanted to ask him just what made him kiss her like he did or what made him want her at all. She was curious to know what happened next and what he wanted. For now, she'd try to be satisfied with knowing he wanted to see her tonight at his place. She'd have to text him later to find out if it was a black tie event, just to get him to laugh.

 

She saw Brannigan's not far away and hurried her pace, the cold making her ears and the tip of her nose numb. She could just imagine the questions she was going to be subjected to by Kim and Briana and hoped the pair hadn't threatened Jensen too badly. She knew them and they were pretty protective of their fellow ladies, she knew there had to be a decent hurt her and die type threat given.

 

It'd what she'd do in the same situation.

 

She opened the door to the popular pub style restaurant and looked around for the two women. The place was decorated for Christmas, only two weeks away but thankfully wasn't obnoxious about it. She hated places that beat you over the head with holiday stuff. A few moments of looking around found the pair seated together at a booth waving to her. As she approached she realized the pair had glasses of champagne.

 

“Really? Champagne? Oh you can just go fuck yourselves!” She laughed, taking off her jacket and sliding into the other side of the booth opposite. She should have known they'd do something like that to celebrate the end of her celibacy. Or to celebrate that the end of it was thanks to Jensen. Either way worked.

 

“That's rich coming from you, young lady!” Briana said with a grin that made her whole face light up. “I'm so proud! I want to know everything! Everything!”

 

Kate rolled her eyes and told a waitress who barely slowed down that she'd like a Pepsi. “I'm not telling you everything, you know that.”

 

They both shared a glance and sighed rather dramatically.

 

“Come on Katie girl, we're both old married women. We want to live vicariously through you!” Kim entreated, slapping her hands to the table on either side of her glass. “Like for instance, did we interrupt a little something something when Jensen answered the door? Thank you SO much for that view by the way, yowza!”

 

Kate laughed, remembering the looks on their faces. “No, you didn't. That was all Jensen. To give you an idea, there were comedy elbows involved. We'd just had a late breakfast.” She stopped as the waitress returned with the drink and told them the appetizers would be coming. To be honest she wasn't hungry considering she'd just had breakfast but she'd still nibble on a couple mozzarella sticks. She never could turn those down. “I honestly forgot all about our trip today and didn't even realize how late it was. Sorry about that.”

 

“Phht. No worries. Come on, breakfast. Who made it? Did you make it together? That's totally romantic.”

 

“He made it for me while I was in the shower.” She admitted which she thought was pretty romantic too. Of course, it wasn't the first time that Jensen had done something sweet like that for her in the 3 years she'd known him, not by a long shot. “I kinda freaked when I first woke up and I think he knew that.”

 

“Why'd you freak? I'm assuming he was in the bed with you. We're adults, it's not a huge assumption.” Kim said, weaving her fingers together and sitting forward like a lawyer or a concerned parent. “What was wrong?”

 

She shook her head as Counselor Kim made her appearance, sitting back in the booth. “Nothing wrong just realizing exactly what I'd done. I mean, who I'd ended up doing it with. He is still my boss you know. One of them anyway.”

 

“So? He's not married, not anymore. I told him, you two have been doing this little unresolved sexual tension thing for years now. Practically doing it with your eyes.” Briana said with a very serious nod. “We've noticed. Pretty sure NASA has noticed.”

 

“Oh my god, shut up!” Kate hissed, still grinning as she covered her face with her hands. “We have not. Well I mean, I can't help it! Look at him for fucks sake but he doesn't look at me like that. Didn't. Before. Well, before last night. Did he?”

 

She dropped her hands to see the two women looking at her like she just told them that she had taken up water rodeo.

 

“Are you friggin' serious? Holy shit you are.” Kim said in disbelief. “I'm gonna go on Tumblr tonight and you'll see what the fans have seen. They don't even KNOW you and they've seen it.”

 

Kate sighed as the waitress returned with the appetizer and busied herself with a mozzarella stick. “People on Tumblr see what they want to see. We all know that just from the crap they come up with about the guys on a daily basis. So what else is going on?”

 

“Nice try, not gonna work.” Kim said with a smile, taking a sip of her champagne. “Come on, tell us something. Was he romantic or rough and passionate? Who kissed who first?”

 

Kate thought about it, remembering Jensen's words about only telling them what she wanted. And as funny as it would be, she wasn't going to say anything about anything being ruptured or walking funny. “He was very romantic. Very sweet. He kissed me.”

 

She still couldn't believe that he had, let alone everything else that happened after that. Having him invading her personal space was something she was used to and she didn't even mind it to be honest since it showed how much he trusted her. But it had been the look in his eye, a strange combination of determination and something she'd always just seen as just affection. To say he then glanced at her lips was putting it way too subtly. He'd made sure that she knew was he wanted as best he could without speaking. Thankfully after the last 3 years, she'd gotten very good at reading his face and was able to understand. It's what made her a very good assistant.

 

And somehow she'd been brave enough to move just that tiny bit forward and take her own not too subtle glimpse at his mouth to answer him. She remembered how her heart had started pounding in her chest just from him looking at her like that but more at the idea of those obscenely shaped lips being anywhere near hers.

 

“Awww.” They both intoned.

 

Kate could feel her cheeks warming. “He's....I don't even know how to describe it.” She paused, thinking about how he'd been so determined to give her pleasure, the way he'd touched her with such reverence. Last night was one thing but were they saying it all existed before that? “You're serious about him looking at me like that?”

 

“Oh yeah.” Briana said, digging out her phone. “I'll find a picture, won't be that hard to find. So come on, it wasn't all pure sweetness! I saw his back, you little vixen you!”

 

“Oh my god shut up right now!” Kate hissed, glancing around only to find that there was no one around them. Of course they'd seen his back. “I can't believe I did that.”

 

The two giggled joyously, clinging to each other in their happiness. “Considering how long you've been sitting on the shelf, kiddo, I'm surprised you didn't break him like a pretzel. I'm so proud! How about this, is he a screamer?”

 

She snorted. Of course they'd want to know stuff like that. She wagered they already knew the answer. Some things were pretty obvious from someone's personality. “No, he's not a screamer.”

 

“Ooh he's a moaner then? I bet a talker too. All kinds of dirty talk. Right?”

 

Kate didn't say anything, just munched on her mozzarella stick and let the pair come to their own conclusions.

 

“Oh I'm so fucking jealous. Insanely jealous! He's got a voice made for that.” Kim said with a dramatic sigh, pretending to fan herself with a napkin. “You know how many times he's been told he needs to do the audiobook version of some romance novels? Jerk turns them down!”

 

“Ooh! Here's one! Here's a pic!” Briana said happily, first showing it to Kim who approved and then turning it to Kate to see. “Look at his face and tell me that's how a guy looks at a woman who is just a friend, just an assistant. Come on now!”

 

Kate looked closer at the picture and recognized it as being from one of the conventions where she'd been helping out Rob by performing with Louden Swain. They'd been performing More Than Words after Jared had joked about enjoying that scene in Love Guru with Mike Myers singing it. That convention had had a smaller stage so where the guys were sitting was nearly right on top of the band. Jared had been closer to the band but Jensen, sitting on his other side, was sitting forward, almost out of his seat, his mike down in his hand by his knees. Someone had posted a close up of his face from another angle and she was struck dumb.

 

She was sure she'd seen this picture before, it was part of her job to kind of keep an eye on the fandom, be up to date on what they were talking about and everything. Why hadn't she noticed the way he was looking at her? And there was no way he'd been looking at Rob because the older man had been turned slightly away from him in the other direction and it wasn't Jared because he'd sat forward to see around Jared.

 

The only one in his view was her as she sang, her eyes closed and her acoustic guitar in her hands.

 

And the look in his eye wasn't admiration for her musical ability or amusement in how well she and Rob performed together. No, she'd seen that look before, last night as a matter of fact when she'd turned from her coffeemaker. That was want.

 

“There's more. You should look it up. You'll see what we've all been seeing. How you haven't seen it is beyond me.” Briana said, taking her phone back.

 

“He's...he's my boss. He was married when we first met. I just...he's him.” She'd never even let herself think of him realistically in that way, especially before the divorce but even after. She just focused on enjoying time she got to spend with him, especially any time he gave her a hug or whatever. She wouldn't say she had him on a pedestal, she was just realistic. He was a famous and successful TV actor and she was a recovering depressive with anxiety on a sabbatical from teaching working as an assistant. That didn't exactly put her in the same category as him.

 

“And you are you, sweetie. Don't think you aren't a sexy little beast because we know you are. And he is just a man, as much as we love him.” Kim said with encouragement, reaching across the table to squeeze her arm in support. “Have you thought about what you want?”

 

Kate blinked at the older woman. What she wanted? Oh, from Jensen. Wasn't that the $64,000 question? “You mean like do I want to be official or whatever it's called? I don't know. I mean, it hasn't even been a day. We didn't really get much chance to talk. I don't really know what he wants.”

 

“Okay, let's try this. Did he kiss you before you left the house to come here?”

 

“Yeah, he did.” What did that have to do with anything?

 

“What kind of kiss was it? A quick to the head, see ya later or a soft gentle romantic kiss? Did he make plans with you for later?”

 

Kate was a bit confused by the kind of question but curious as to where the older woman was going with it. “Soft and gentle, I guess? He's never been a quick to the head kind of guy. He's always kinda lingered. Just this time it was, you know, more. Yeah, I'm gonna go to his place tonight for dinner.”

 

That made Kim smile big. “I think you are good then. But I will say there should be a major talk before any more fun stuff happens. And then you need to tell us about the fun stuff.”

 

Kate laughed. “Yeah keep dreaming!”

 


	8. Jensen

Jensen wiped at his eyes, still giggling about Kate's rupture comment. There was a reason she got along so well with the Supernatural group, she could be just as witty and twisted as the rest of them. He got up off the floor and went to where his coat from the night before had been hanging and grabbed his cellphone out of the pocket. Turning it on, he was surprised the damn thing hadn't imploded from all the messages.

 

The latest was one from Jared as were quite a few others. Not a surprise.

 

**Dude, where the fuck are you? I'm dying here and Kate's not answering either! Why have you forsaken me?**

 

Jensen rolled his eyes at how dramatic his long time friend could be. _Well maybe you should have listened to Kate and not tried to go shot for shot with the lighting crew._ He texted back before heading through Kate's apartment to where he was pretty sure the rest of his stuff was in the bedroom. He knew for a fact that she had more than one item of clothing of both his and Jared's from either borrowing it or them forgetting it here so he wasn't too worried about having something to wear.

 

He still thought Kate had worked some kind of magic to score an apartment like this. His might be in a deluxe apartment high rise but hers had a unique flavor. The building had been a renovated factory and the four apartments within it were either completely open floor lofts or semi-open like Kate's was. Her living room bled into her office which was in one corner filled with books. There were a ton of windows, nearly ceiling to floor so natural light wasn't a problem. The corner opposite, along the same wall as her front door, was her music area including her various instruments including her piano. The one wall before reaching the short hallway that led to the bedrooms was covered in frames and photos.

 

He stopped and took the time to look at the photos, always managing to find a few one or a nuance he'd missed before. It was nearly a chronicle of her life, including adorable baby pictures and ones of her with her dad and brother. One of his favorites was one of her seated at a piano in a little frilly yellow dress, her little feet nowhere near the ground. She had such a look of concentration and it was amazing to think that she'd been playing the piano since she was that small.

 

He smiled at the pictures she'd amassed of the last 3 years, himself and Jared in many of them. They spoke of real friendship and the love of family. One of his favorites looked like it came from a photo op at a convention if one didn't pay attention to the fact that the Impala was in the background. Jared was hugging Kate from behind while he and Misha hugged her from either side, her hands on their cheeks and a big smile on her face. It was framed with a little plaque on the bottom that said “My Boys”.

 

Another favorite that Jared had taken he actually had in his own apartment. Kate was on his back, piggyback style, her arms wrapped around his shoulders, his tucked under her knees. Both of them had huge smiles on their faces. He remembered that day, just a few months ago before the summer hiatus. Jared had been on one of his nature kicks and they'd gone on a hike just outside Vancouver. They'd gone up a particularly steep hill and she'd sat down at the top declaring they could leave her there she couldn't go any further, joking around of course.

 

So, being a gentleman, he'd offered a ride. Of course he hadn't mentioned that he was going to take off with her on his back. The memory of her laughing shrieks and pleas to Jared to save her still made him smile.

 

His phone beeped at him again and he looked at the screen. Speak of the devil. Jared. Again.

 

**I'm still dying. Are you coming over? I can't get through to Kate. Bring coffee.**

 

_Die quieter, would you? Gimme a few to shower and stuff. Kate's out with Kim and Bri._

 

He didn't even make it to the bedroom before his phone went off again.

 

**Fuuuuuck you. How do you know where Kate is? Is she mad at me or something?**

 

_Because she just left here, that's how I know. No she's not mad at you but I'm gonna be if you don't leave me alone. Coffee is in jeopardy._

 

He wanted a long minute and saw that Jared had read the text and didn't reply. Perfect. He figured he'd save time and just shower at Jared's or at home so he found one of his old shirts that was hanging in Kate's closet. Little thief. He had to dig around for his socks and shoes, somehow one shoe had made it to the most inaccessible place under her bed. A few minutes wrestling with his hair so it didn't look like bedhead and a quick wash of the dishes in the sink and he was out the door, making sure to lock it behind him.

* * *

* * *

 

“It's open!”

 

He opened the door to Jared's apartment to find the taller man seated on his couch looking like death warmed over. He was barely dressed in track pants and a sweatshirt with a beanie. “Dude, you look like shit.”

 

Jared rolled his eyes. This was something he no doubt knew. “Please tell me you have coffee.”

 

“Of course.” He handed over the huge cup and waited until a few long sips had been taken. If he was bad in the mornings when they were working, Jared was just as bad when he was feeling hungover if just for the reason he didn't drink that often. “Better?”

 

“Yeah. What'd you mean when you said Kate just left? Did she crash at your apartment?”

 

Of course that would be the text that Jared would latch onto. The fact she hadn't responded to probably quite a few texts from him had probably set off his curiosity. Kate was very good about responding to texts at nearly any time of day. They often joked that she could text in her sleep thanks to them. He sat down on the plush chair facing the couch Jared had taken over and took a deep breath. Here went nothing. “No, I was at her place.”

 

“Oh.”

 

A moment passed with another sip of coffee before Jared stopped short and looked at him. “Dude. You didn't.”

 

Jensen said nothing.

 

“DUDE. Seriously?” Jared's eyes were wide in shock. Wasn't every day you found out one of your best friends slept with one of your other best friends. Nevermind your shared assistant.

 

He shrugged. What could he say?

 

“Come on man! Gen and I had dibs!”

 

He rolled his eyes at the old joke that would have earned the man a couch pillow to the face from Kate. She and Gen were incredibly close, no doubt because Gen saw how well Kate worked with Jared and how much she truly cared. She had been the one to start joking about Kate being Jared's “work wife” and referring to Kate as her “sister-wife” much to Kate's chagrin. Of course a good portion of that joking had come after the whole thing with his ex making accusations that made the Supernatural set sound like some kind of 70s swinger orgy. Kate had been mortified and had panicked thinking that she'd somehow caused the divorce.

 

Jared sat forward, putting the nearly half empty coffee down but close by. “Really though? No joke? You and Kate?”

 

Jensen nodded, taking a sip of his own coffee. He was still wrapping his own head around it. “Yeah.”

 

“Wow.” He took a few moments to mull it over, scratching at his face that was unshaven. “I guess it kind of makes sense. I'm married so she has to settle for you.”

 

Jensen rolled his eyes and flipped off his friend with his free hand.

 

The slightly less hungover man grinned like a Cheshire cat. “I am a bit surprised though. It's out of character for her, even if it's you. What made you go for it? I'm assuming you made the first move because she's way too shy and I know no drinking was involved.”

 

“I dunno. Took her home, she insisted on making me coffee since it was so late and everything. I just, I was watching her make my favorite coffee with the coffeemaker she has for no other reason than for you and me. I just went for it. I wanted to know. I didn't expect for it to go as far as it did.” He shrugged, remembering his pleasant shock at how she'd almost immediately kissed him back.

 

“Huh. So it kinda just happened?”

 

He nodded. “Yeah.”

 

“And?”

 

“Dude, she'd fucking kill me. And then you.”

 

“Only if she found out.”

 

Fine. He wanted details? He sat forward, consciously planting his elbows on his knees so he wouldn't give himself away and weaved his fingers together. “Man, it was crazy. I honestly don't think I've come that hard or that much in years. In years.”

 

He had to fight to keep from giggling with pleasure at the way Jared's face changed from interested to distinctly not interested and potentially mentally scarred.

 

“Yeah, okay. That's a little bit too much detail, even for me.” He squeezed his eyes closed briefly as if trying to delete a mental image.

 

Jensen sat back, quite happy that the day had barely begun and not only had he woken up with a beautiful woman but he'd pulled off two flawless practical jokes. Life was good. “You asked.”

 

“You are such an asshole.” Jared said, still with a bit of horror in his expression, picking up his coffee again. “So what now?”

 

Wasn't that the question of the day or potentially the year? He hadn't exactly planned on acting on his attraction for Kate, nevermind contemplating that she'd reciprocate so completely. It wasn't like they were teenagers anymore or anything. He was getting close to 40 and had a lovely divorce in the public eye under his belt along with a TV show that had a pretty rabid fanbase. She was a little younger but had gone through so much from losing her father and then her brother and struggling with a deep depression. A depression that'd led her to take a chance and try for a job doing almost the opposite of what she'd grown up doing or had gone to school for.

 

“I honestly don't know.” He said, his eyes catching a picture frame on Jared's wall taken from Thanksgiving. In it, Gen and Kate were smiling with the newest Padalecki, little Jenna seated on her mother's lap while holding Kate's finger in her tiny grip. It was in a custom frame with the words “My Girls” spelled out in cursive silver. “I haven't seen this.” He got up and pointed to the frame, taking the chance to look at the picture a bit closer.

 

“Yeah, I ordered the frame the last time we were home and Gen just sent it up with the picture.” Jared explained from the couch. “It's been up for over a week.”

 

Jensen shrugged. He wasn't always the king of observation. “Has Kate seen it?”

 

Jared grinned, putting down his coffee cup. “Yeah, I had her open the package when I realized what it was.” He paused. “Oh wait, you were on location for that scene in the forest with Mark and Misha. I'm surprised she didn't mention it.”

 

Jensen looked at the picture closer, not needing to be there to have a pretty good idea how Kate had reacted. “Let me guess, Disbelief and then she nearly cried?” He turned and went back to the chair and his coffee.

 

Jared touched his finger to his nose. “She practically tackled me, which is hilarious considering how tiny she is. But yeah, the look on her face was great.” He sat up, putting down his now empty coffee and ran his hand through his mussy hair. “Don't get away from the subject, what about you and Kate? What happens next? Gen is gonna shit when I tell her.”

 

“Do me a favor and wait. Or better, give Kate a chance to tell her. She already got a bit of a surprise with the Wayward girls showing up at her door and figuring it out.”

 

“Do they have her in an interrogation room with a bright light in her face? Fly her out to Guantanamo?”

 

Jensen snorted. “Those would be vacation spots I'm betting. I don't even want to know what they are asking. Of course, our Kate is probably giving some creative answers as we know she can.”

 

“Ooh, truth.” A classical ringtone went off and Jared grinned. “Speaking of our Kate!” He dug out of his phone and looked at the screen, his smile not fading at all. “Hey, sorry I didn't get back to you, got distracted by a wild llama. You okay?”

 

He couldn't help but smile too, knowing it would only be a matter of time for Kate to text Jared even though she knew he'd be right there with him. It was Momma Kate to the rescue.

 

Jared began texting back, saying his text outloud. “A bit jealous of that wild llama but he showed up here with coffee, it's all good. Have fun shopping with the girls. Get me something cute.”

 

Jensen rolled his eyes even though he really liked the relationship Kate had developed with Jared over the last three years. The two clicked strangely enough and thanks to their own struggles with depression were that much better prepared to help each other when signs of a bad day made themselves known. Kate was very protective of her “Moosie” as she put her own twist on his nickname and sometimes he needed that, even as a grown man.

 

The ringtone happened again and Jared let out a bark of a laugh before handing his phone over to Jensen to see. On the screen was a picture sent by Kate including her in the bottom corner, from her nose up looking scared ala Blair Witch while both Kim and Briana were giving evil smiles. The evil smiles were because they were standing outside the Victoria's Secret in the mall. Under the photo were the simple words “Help Me.”

 

He grinned. Maybe he'd been too harsh on those Wayward girls. Hitting enter to respond, he said and typed, “Llama highly approves, feel free to max out your credit card.” He handed the phone back happily. “I'm so fucking lucky.”

 

“I'm guessing you guys made plans for later?”

 

“Yeah, kinda. She's coming over to my place after she's done being tortured by those two although if that's the start of their shopping, I might have been too harsh.”

 

“And your place isn't a crime scene at the moment? After the last couple weeks I'm surprised this place is still standing.” Jared waved around his own Vancouver apartment that could use a bit of elbow grease and straightening but wasn't anywhere near as bad as it could had often had been. Kate was notorious for cleaning up while she was waiting for Jared to get his ass in gear to head to set.

 

“Fuck.” The last weeks of filming, as it usually was before either the winter or summer hiatus was beyond hectic and usually led to the first couple days of vacation being had in a self induced coma for pretty much everyone but especially the two of them considering they were in nearly every scene of every episode. At least it felt that way. He was pretty sure his apartment looked like something out of The Walking Dead at the moment. Not that it was anything to be admired before that. It was pretty much just a place to crash.

 

Jared smirked as another text came in and handed him the phone again as he stood up and stretched. The picture was of Kate rolling her eyes at him with the words Bad Llama underneath. “Alright, I feel closer to human. Gimme a sec to hop in the shower and I'll do my good karma for the day and help you out.”

 

“And?”

 

“And you buy me lunch. Dick.”

 

Jensen sighed, flopping back against the chair after tossing Jared's phone to the couch opposite. Why did he sometimes feel like he actually was in that weird French Mistake universe?

 


	9. Kate

_Just bring your beautiful self (and anything you got at VS). I'll see you soon._

 

Kate looked at the text she'd just gotten from Jensen after texting him to find out if he wanted her to get anything before she headed over. Shopping had been surprisingly fun with the girls though she had probably turned 20 different shades of red at the various lingerie shops they kept finding and dragging her into.

 

What'd surprised her and probably won Jensen quite a few points with both Kim and Briana was what had been waiting for her when the girls went to drop her off. Parked right on the street by her building was her car, apparently retrieved from the studio lot and dropped off. The icing had been the rose that had been secured to the windshield by a wiper with a note.

 

_Can't wait to see you tonight, drive safe. --J_

 

She was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to resist the urge to frame that note. It was currently propped up against the bud vase she'd put the rose in.

 

She wondered as she headed back to double check her appearance one more time if the rose and the fact that he'd gone to the effort, probably with Jared's help, of going across town to retrieve her car was a sign he'd made some kind of decision on where they stood. Kim had been pretty adamant that she make sure to talk to him about how things had changed and know where they stood before anything else happened.

 

Kim was right. It was just as much about protecting Jensen as it was about protecting her. She knew that he hadn't been with anyone since the divorce. He blew it off as enjoying the single life but she knew he'd been majorly hurt and was nursing a broken heart. Not because he had flame for his ex, that hadn't been much more than an ember for a while. No, it'd more been about how most anyone felt being dumped but made that much worse by it being so very public.

 

Looking at herself in the mirror, she hoped she wasn't too overdressed in her clingy jersey ankle length skirt and tank top under a matching sweater wrap. She didn't want to just go over in what she'd been wearing shopping but she didn't want to look like she was trying too much.

 

Ugh. No wonder she'd avoided dating. Dating was hard.

 

Then again, she wasn't entirely sure if what they were doing was considering dating. Maybe she'd know once she got over there. To be honest, she was more than her fair share of nervous. With Christmas coming, she'd be heading down to Texas for the yearly celebration that had been a blended affair between Jared and Jensen's families. The last thing she wanted was for things to be awkward and then have to pretend like they weren't for the sake of all the family members and especially Jared's kids. They'd had quite a few fun days last year of giving Jared and Gen time alone by taking the boys out, usually to a zoo. In time, it'd include little Jenna and then they'd really have a handful.

 

She mentally and physically shook her head. She wasn't going to overthink this because there was no point. She'd done the same thing that morning and it had amounted to nothing because she'd ended up having nothing to worry about. All she needed to focus on was going over to Jensen's and having a good time.

 

If that included spending the night, well she'd enjoy that too. Little did Jensen know that she was actually wearing something she had gotten at Victoria's Secret. It was pretty tame compared to most of the stuff she'd been shown throughout the day in various stores but it was flattering and didn't make her feel uncomfortable or self conscious about trying too hard. Even if Jensen didn't see it tonight, she could feel sexy just knowing she had it on period.

 

With that in her head, she grabbed her bag and coat and headed for the door, a single lamp on just in case she ended up coming home tonight.

* * *

 

“Looking lovely, Dr. Baylor! Does Mr. Ackles have an event tonight?”

 

Kate felt her cheeks warm as she entered the lobby of Jensen's building thanks to the friendly doorman who insisted on just being called Gordo. He was an older man, a former Mountie who was well loved by the residents of the building both for his friendly nature and his fierce protection of their privacy. More than one resident was a part of the Vancouver film and TV industry, including Grant Gustin from Flash and more than one actor starring in the various shows Netflix had in production in the area.

 

“Thank you Gordo. No, Mr. Ackles doesn't have an event tonight.”

 

“Oh, well then! You have a good evening!”

 

She smiled, enjoying how polite Gordo was every time she saw him. He rarely called her Kate, even when she asked him to. He'd insisted that she earned her doctorate, the least he could do was show respect for the effort she put into getting it. There were a few people who felt that way, including some of the Supernatural cast and crew. In addition to her nickname of Momma, she was also occasionally called Doc. She supposed it made sense even if it was far from a medical degree.

 

Getting into the elevator, she hit the button for Jensen's floor without really thinking about it, taking a deep breath and adjusting her skirt, the clingy material having a tendency to have a mind of its own as you walked in it. The elevator was quick and soon enough the doors were dinging open onto Jensen's floor that he shared with a retired businessman from Burnaby who traveled more than he was home.

 

She turned and headed for Jensen's door and was saved the need to knock by the door opening when she was still a good 20 feet away and Jensen's head popping out. His hair was actually styled and she could see the hint of a collar so he had gotten completely dressed at some point.

 

“I thought I heard the elevator.” A smile took his lips and he stepped out into the hallway more completely, revealing himself to be dressed in his comfortable dress slacks and a dark silver dress shirt with the first couple buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up. “Wow. You look amazing.”

 

She felt her cheeks warm and was convinced she could feel trails of heat on her body left behind as his eyes took her in from her head to her feet. She concentrated on not falling as she closed the few feet between them. “I don't wear a skirt willingly for most anyone, Mr. Ackles. It's a good thing you're cute.”

 

His smile became what she'd teased him as his Bad Boy Dean smile. His hands reached forward and grabbed her hips, closing the final distance between them. “I'm also adorable, kind to animals and funny.”

“And impatient, a morning grump and sarcastic.”

 

“It's lucky you are beautiful, smart, patient and generally awesome.” He was quick to reply with a playful smirk on his lips.

 

She giggled, happy to see that their usual silly flirting was still in play and things hadn't become awkward in the few hours since she'd left him in her apartment, shirtless and giggling himself. “Lucky is a pretty good description, I'd say.”

 

“I agree.” His eyes softened and one hand left it's place on her hip to gently grip her chin with his thumb and index finger as he urged her into a slow, soft but somehow intense kiss. It made her heart beat faster and her whole body tingle with how familiar his kiss was and thrilling at the same time. “Mmm, I've been wanting to do that all day.”

 

“Yeah?” She murmured against his lips, neither one of them really that eager to move apart. “Must have made things awkward with Jared.”

 

Jensen chuckled, resting his forehead against hers, the hand that'd been holding her chin now resting right where her neck and shoulder met. “Yeah, you'd think he'd be used to that by now.”

 

“Yeah, go figure.”

 

Still grinning, he took both of her hand in his. “Come on, I have dinner staying warm in the oven. I thought about taking credit for cooking it but that'd be a bit ridiculous. I hope you're hungry, I might have over ordered from Maggiano's.”

 

She raised her eyebrow as he led her into his apartment, stopping briefly to take her coat and bag and hang them by the door. He'd really pulled out all the stops for this date. She turned and it was then that she was able to look around and was struck silent.

 

Jensen's apartment had always been more of a place for him to crash, not a real home. Home for him was in Austin. He'd only lived here since the divorce, wanting nothing to do with anything that reminded him of his ex, including the Vancouver apartment that she'd been to but only very rarely. It'd been a real bachelor pad and never overly neat but not terribly lived in either.

 

Tonight, there was a small iron and glass bistro style table set up where a normal dining table would be and where Jensen normally had a poker table for the occasional tournament with the guys. There were two matching chairs and what looked to be the setting for a romantic dinner, including candles.

 

But it was how the rest of the apartment that she could see looked that had her stunned. Had Canada revived Queer Eye for the Straight Guy? Or would that be Queer Eye for the Hunter Guy for Supernatural? Either way, it looked like a whole new apartment. He'd even put up pictures that he'd had sitting in a box for the last year. There was the afghan his grandmother had made him, thrown tastefully across the back of the couch. On the mantle over the fireplace, his awards now displayed on either side of the big screen TV. The last time she'd been here and actually since Jensen had moved in, they'd all been gathering dust in the boxes they'd arrived here in.

 

And that was just the living area. She wondered what he'd gotten to in the rest of the apartment.

 

_Don't start thinking about his bedroom._

 

_Crap!_

 

“What do you think? It still needs work.” He asked, resting a hand on the small of her back, no doubt seeing her shock. She'd offered to do some of the touches to make the apartment more comfortable but he'd always said no, that he'd get to it eventually. Apparently, eventually had been today.

 

“It looks amazing. I mean, wow with a capital wow.”

 

“You think so? It was like flight of the bumblebee trying to get it all done. Kinda stupid how I kept putting it off considering I spend so much of my time in Vancouver.”

 

“No, it's not stupid. You spend most of that time on set and sometimes doing stuff like this just needs the right mood is all.”

 

He smiled and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Always my valiant defender, aren't you?”

 

“Someone's gotta be.”

 

“Come on, why don't you sit and relax and I'll get the food ready. I figured Italian was a safe bet.”

 

He led her over to the bistro table that was tastefully set with dishes she had a feeling were brand new. “Italian is always a safe bet with me. You really didn't have to go to all this trouble.”

 

“I wanted to. It was fun actually, which is so incredibly sad to say.” He smirked to himself as he pulled out a chair for her and everything. “Want something to drink? I might have accidentally bought some Pepsi. Weirdest thing since I don't really drink soda.”

 

She smiled. He was teasing her no doubt for having a coffeemaker when she didn't even drink the stuff. “That'd be great.”

 


	10. Jensen

“You do realize that just getting your place somewhat livable is going to take most of the day, right?” Jared briefly took his eyes off the road to look at him as they drove the very familiar route to the studio lot to get Kate's car. Jensen thought it would be a nice surprise if she got back from her shopping trip to find one less thing that needed to be done on her list. She always had a list.

 

“Yeah. I figured. Thanks for helping me.”

 

“After watching you two dance around each other for three years, it seems only right. I still can't believe you guys just hooked up so fast though.”

 

Jensen rolled his eyes. There was a growing list of people that didn't quite believe it and both he and Kate were at the top of it. “Join the club. You said it yourself, three years of dancing.”

 

“Yeah a dance that both of you were in denial of. How did you not see how she looks at you? You never wondered why she's never gone out on a single date or anything since she started working with us?”

 

Jensen sighed as Jared took the turn that led to the studio lot. How many times over the last 12 years had he made this trip? “Working for us doesn't exactly give her much time off. Remember how Amell asked us if we could clone her?”

 

Jared laughed. “Yeah. Not many assistants willingly work as much as she does.” He paused. “Do you remember when you two first met?”

 

Jensen thought back to that morning. Little had he known how much that one meeting would have an impact on the rest of his life. He'd had a bad night, arguing again with his ex over the phone about how he didn't want to get a place in LA and her whining about how much she hated Texas. Kate had been working for Jared for a few days by then at least and for that episode, they'd been apart so he hadn't gotten to meet her. Not until that morning.

 

“Yeah, in the hair and makeup trailer.” He smiled, thinking how his first thought had been to wonder how someone so young had been a college professor only to learn later that she was only a little younger than him and actually older than Jared.

 

His second thought was that he might have actually gone through with college if he had known there was a potential for a professor that looked like her. First time they met he'd thought she was cute as hell.

 

“You were so shocked when she had coffee not just for me but for you too and the girls.”

 

“Dude, she made a point of finding out how I take my coffee and she hadn't even met me yet. You were impressed too, don't lie.”

 

“It just confirmed for me that I made the right choice in her as an assistant.”

 

Jensen was quiet as they drove the next few miles, thinking about just how often Kate went out of her way and out of the way of a normal assistant to do things for Jared and for him, even before she became his assistant as well. She'd been a nervous thing the first couple weeks but soon enough she relaxed and he'd been able to recognize that Jared really had hit the ball out of the park in hiring her.

 

“What's that thing she said once?” Jared spoke up after a few minutes, his brow furrowed in thought. “You know, we were sitting around on the Bunker set talking about bad dates and she didn't really have any stories to tell because dating had never been that important to her?” He made a face that looked like he was trying to hold in a fart but Jensen knew it was his brainstorming face. “Yeah, some bullshit that she just wasn't willing to settle for what she could actually achieve?”

 

Jensen nodded, feeling his jaw clench involuntarily at the idea. Kate was an incredibly strong woman, even if she didn't recognize it. She also was incredibly stubborn about how she saw herself, which was nowhere near any form of reality. He understood that she'd put family and work ahead of any kind of dating life. What he didn't understand was her idea that she wasn't attractive or desirable. He got the idea that she'd been hurt more than once and that had laid a major seed of self doubt that just grew and grew. She knew she was a good performer in how she sang and played instruments. She knew she was an excellent professor and was insanely intelligent. But other than that, her self esteem was so negative.

 

“Yeah. I wish I could find the assholes who put that idea in her head.” He went to run his hand through his hair and halfway there remembered the ballcap he was wearing. “No details, but god, she's beautiful. More than I could have even imagined before last night.”

 

“Not surprised in the least. Maybe the guys in New York are all blind? They get a lot of snow there. Maybe it's a form of snow blindness. Or their all dumbasses and were intimidated by our resident genius.”

 

Jensen shook his head as the security gate to the studio lot came into view. “I dunno man. Their loss is my gain. At least I hope it is.”

 

Jared waited until they were past the gate, it feeling almost strange to be going to set this late in the day and not before dawn as usual. “Just take it slow. You guys should probably talk before any more naked stuff happens. I mean, it's Kate. She deserves that.”

 

Jensen fought the urge to smirk or make a normal sarcastic remark. “Dude, your dad side is showing.”

 

“Considering she's older than me, that doesn't work. Nevermind the teasing Gen and I do about the second wife, sister wife shit. She's family, I love her like a sister. I just know both of you have been through a lot and I don't want to see either of you hurt or have your friendship ruined.”

 

“But?”

 

“But you've got more experience and stuff with this kind of thing. She doesn't.” He stopped his car right next to where Kate's was parked, nearly alone in the lot. “Don't break her heart, it's been broken too many times.”

 

Jensen had to fight the urge to smile then, feeling an immense amount of affection for the man who'd gone from a costar to a brother very quickly. He was very protective of Kate as she was of him. “I know it has. That's the last thing I'd want. Honest.”

 

Jared nodded, almost as if he was agreeing with a conclusion he'd already confirmed for himself. “I know. Just be prepared to get threatened a lot on her behalf once more of the family finds out about you two.”

 

Jensen grinned at that as they both got out of the car and walked over to the driver's side of Kate's. They both had copies of the key to her car as well as to her apartment, just like she had all of their keys too. Made doing favors like this a lot easier to do as a surprise. “Yeah, Kim threatened to disembowel me personally.”

 

Jared grinned too, absently adjusting his beanie. “And she'd do it too.”

 

“Yeah she would.”

 

“Race you back to Kate's?”

 

Jensen rolled his eyes as he unlocked and started the car with the remote starter and opened the door. He made sure to adjust the driver's seat before even getting in. One look at the seats showed that a smaller person drove the car and usually had a very tall person in the car. He'd always gotten a kick out of how she nearly had to have her seat up to the wheel just so she could reach the pedals. “Yeah that'd be a good idea. Hey, got your car back and got myself a speeding ticket or worse.”

 

“Spoilsport.”

* * *

 

Jensen collapsed on the couch, exhausted. He was getting too old for this shit, he was sure of it. It felt like he'd just moved into the apartment again. Down and away went the poker table he had in place of an actual dining table. Up and together went the table the guy at the store called a bistro table. He'd thought for sure that they were going to drop the glass top and be well and truly fucked. He had matching chairs too, thankfully those hadn't needed to be assembled.

 

A bottle of water was nudged against his arm and he took it as Jared took a seat next to him. He'd never have gotten any of this done if it wasn't for him. Besides the table, he'd actually gone out and got nice dishes and silverware and a second opinion on that was always helpful. Normally he would have had Kate with him for this kind of thing but this was kind of a surprise for her so that was out. Jared had been good about reminding him to pick out stuff he liked, that Kate would want him to make that choice over something obscenely expensive or something he thought she would like even if he didn't.

 

“Thanks for this.” He said, eyes closed as he opened the water and drained about half of it in one go. The apartment hadn't been a complete disaster but it had been a far cry from being a place you'd want to have a romantic dinner in. While they'd been setting everything up, they'd also been cleaning and straightening. The little laundry nook that came with the apartment had probably gotten the most use it had gotten since he moved in. He'd actually hung up pictures and stuff on the walls and there were next to no moving boxes just gathering dust anymore.

 

It looked like a real apartment now.

 

Well, a lot more like a real apartment. His spare bedroom was probably an accident waiting to happen from all the stuff they'd crammed in there to take care of later. But when you only had a few hours to get things done, sacrifices had to be made.

 

“Dude, do you get why Kate was nagging you about doing this now? Doesn't the whole place just feel more comfortable?”

 

“Yeah. I just had to be inspired or something.” He opened his eyes. “Serious, brother. Thank you.”

 

“You are welcome. It's good karma. I'll go pick up the food you ordered while you shower and stuff. Save you some time.”

 

Jensen looked at his watch, seeing just how close they were cutting it. Kate had said that the shopping trip was winding down and she'd probably be home between 6 and 7. She hadn't texted back yet but it was just after 6. She was going to be shocked when she saw the transformation in the apartment. “That'd be great. I can't believe how much we got done.”

 

Jared nodded with a pleased smile as he stood up and stretched. “Yep. We're awesome. Go get in the shower. You stink. I'll go grab the food.”

 

He rolled his eyes at the taller man before getting up and getting a hug for his troubles. “Thanks.”

 

“Just be good to her, that's all the thanks I need.”

* * *

 

He was thankful he'd left any music off when he heard the ding of the elevator telling him of an arrival on the floor. He doubted very much that it would be his absentee neighbor and a look at his watch told him it was perfectly timed to be Kate. He shook his head as he headed to the door, taking a deep breath. Was he actually feeling anxious? Maybe it was more anticipation than anxiety. He was really hoping she'd like everything he'd done to the apartment.

 

Maybe there was a touch of anxiety in worrying that she was having second or third thoughts about last night. He dismissed those thoughts and poked his head out the door.

 

“I thought I heard the elevator.” A smile took his lips and he stepped out into the hallway. She wasn't in jeans and a tshirt but an actual skirt and one of those sweater wrap things. Kate wasn't a sloppy dresser but she wasn't much for dressing for fashion over comfort. He was the same way most of the time. That was why he'd gone to the effort of a dress shirt and slacks, but didn't go as far as a tie or a jacket. “Wow. You look amazing.”

 

He couldn't help but check her out as she continued to walk toward him, the skirt made of some stretchy t-shirt like material that was sinfully showing off her curves. Did she wear it to torture him? Probably. All the better. “I don't wear a skirt willingly for most anyone, Mr. Ackles. It's a good thing you're cute.”

 

He couldn't help but grin at the simple and familiar flirtation. It was an old thing for them to tease each other like this. He wasn't even sure when they started doing it but it was such a natural thing to do. Of course, he never really faked his flirting. He kept it honest and prided himself more than once on getting her to blush.

 

He prided himself on his personal restraint but after last night and then the last few hours added to the way she looked in that skirt, restraint wasn't exactly his strong suit right then. His hands reached forward and grabbed her hips, closing the final distance between them. “I'm also adorable, kind to animals and funny.”

 

“And impatient, a morning grump and sarcastic.”

 

“It's lucky you are beautiful, smart, patient and generally awesome.” He was quick to reply. It looked like going out with the girls was just the thing to put some confidence in her step.

 

She actually giggled, her eyes bright and happy as she looked up at him. “Lucky is a pretty good description, I'd say.”

 

“I agree.” He said with a softer tone before urging her into a kiss that had been in the back of his mind ever since she left her apartment that morning for her shopping trip. How had he managed three years without kissing these lips? “Mmm, I've been wanting to do that all day.”

 

“Yeah?” She murmured against his lips, neither one of them really that eager to move apart. “Must have made things awkward with Jared.”

 

He couldn't help but laugh at that since Jared tended to be the more physically demonstrative in terms of their friendship. There were fans that were convinced they were actually in a relationship on the down low based solely on how affectionate the big oaf could be. “Yeah, you'd think he'd be used to that by now.”

 

“Yeah, go figure.”

 

Still grinning, he took both of her hand in his. “Come on, I have dinner staying warm in the oven. I thought about taking credit for cooking it but that'd be a bit ridiculous. I hope you're hungry, I might have over ordered from Maggiano's.” It was her favorite Italian restaurant as well as the favorite of many of the cast and crew.

 

He helped her with her coat and waited with bated breath to watch her reaction to the change in his apartment. She turned and immediately she sucked in a breath and her eyes got wide. She blinked a few times, her attention first drawn to the romantic table set up that'd replaced his poker table. He watched as she took in the pictures on the wall, his displayed awards and the flatscreen TV above the mantle.

 

He hoped it wasn't too much, he'd debated and debated over putting candles on the table before he just said fuck it and did it. It'd been too long since he'd tried being romantic, not counting his half-assed attempts at saving his doomed marriage.

 

“What do you think? It still needs work.” He asked, pushing thoughts of the past out of his head and resting a hand on the small of her back. She had yet to say anything but he had a feeling that her shock was actually a good thing.

 

“It looks amazing. I mean, wow with a capital wow.”

 

Damn, he really knew her pretty well didn't he? Score one for Ackles.

 

“You think so? It was like flight of the bumblebee trying to get it all done. Kinda stupid how I kept putting it off considering I spend so much of my time in Vancouver.” She'd been right about getting this done and he was glad he finally did.

 

“No, it's not stupid. You spend most of that time on set and sometimes doing stuff like this just needs the right mood is all.”

 

He smiled and pressed a kiss to her temple. She could have taken the opportunity to crow about how she was right and he'd been wrong but that wasn't Kate's style. “Always my valiant defender, aren't you?”

 

“Someone's gotta be.”

 

“Come on, why don't you sit and relax and I'll get the food ready. I figured Italian was a safe bet.”

 

He led her over to the bistro table that was set thanks to a couple pictures he'd seen on Pinterest on the way back from the store with everything. “Italian is always a safe bet with me. You really didn't have to go to all this trouble.”

 

“I wanted to. It was fun actually, which is so incredibly sad to say.” He pulled out the chair for her, wanting to go all out. He wasn't lying, he actually had had fun preparing for this date considering how long it had been since he'd been on one. “Want something to drink? I might have accidentally bought some Pepsi. Weirdest thing since I don't really drink soda.”

 

She smiled. She had to know that she was the only reason he had the stuff to begin with. If she could have coffee in her apartment for him, he'd have her Pepsi. Caffeine was proving to be romantic somehow. “That'd be great.”

 


	11. Kate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a longer chapter...PLEASE feel free to comment and share if you like this story. It needs love!

He gave her a wink before heading to his kitchenette that was very similar to her own in that it wasn't really it's own room but just separated by a counter with stools. She watched as he took out a pair of wine glasses, also new since she knew he wasn't really one for wine, filling one with Pepsi and the other with what looked like sparkling water. Was he not drinking again on her behalf? “So come on, tell me about your day. I see you survived your interrogation.”

 

She laughed. “Yeah, I survived. It wasn't that bad to be honest. Though when I got to Brannigans, they had glasses of champagne already.”

 

He laughed, his eyes crinkling up in amusement. “That sounds about right.” He came over with her glass, handing it to her while setting his own at his place setting. “Do I want to know what they asked?”

 

“The usual stuff, honestly what you'd expect.”

 

He headed back toward the kitchen, bending down to take something out of the oven. “Like what?”

 

She waited till he put the reheatable to go container down before she answered. “Kim wanted to know if you were a screamer.”

 

Jensen snorted and turned, giving her a raised eyebrow. “And you said?”

 

“Absolutely.”

 

“No you didn't. Liar.” He waved his finger at her with a grin on his face. “You are awful at telling lies. Almost as bad as Jared. They'd never have fallen for that.”

 

She sighed. He knew her too well. “Ok, as long as you are saying I'm almost and not as bad as Jared. I did say no.”

 

“But?”

 

“I didn't say anything when they asked if you were a dirty talker and let them draw their own conclusions.”

 

He smirked in approval. “Nice.” He came over with a plate of stuffed shells and a healthy sized piece of garlic bread. He knew her love for garlic bread was endless. “So they weren't that bad then?”

 

She shook her head, intent on waiting for him to get his own plate before she touched the tempting food. “Well Kim did say she was surprised that I didn't break you like a pretzel, considering how long I'd been sitting on the shelf.”

 

He let out a manic little giggle, filling his own plate. “Was she now?” He headed back over and put down his plate before taking a seat across from her. “There were a couple times I thought you were going to be the death of me. Does that count?”

 

She could feel her cheeks warm and hoped the candlelight was a good cover. “Oh my god, shut up.”

 

He grinned with absolutely no innocence in his eyes. “Nope. Only telling the truth.”

 

“Whatever, come on, how was your day with Jared and your own interrogation?”

 

He shrugged, nodding to her to go head and start as he put his own napkin in his lap. “He was mooing about his hangover, as expected. Though the hangover seemed to disappear when he figured out what happened. All I said was that I'd been at your place.”

 

“Let me guess, he was all, Dude. Dude? Seriously? DUDE!”

 

Jensen cackled, throwing his head back as he had a tendency to do, fork in hand. “It's both amusing and frightening how well you know him. But yeah, that was essentially it.”

 

“He didn't ask for details? Like bro to bro or whatever guys call it?”

 

“He hinted but I shut him down with a rather graphic expression of my complete satisfaction. I might have mentally scarred him, at least hopefully.”

 

She giggled, taking her first bite of the food and mentally thanked the universe for him knowing her well enough to go for Italian. This was heavenly. “You are so mean.”

 

“He deserved it. He was all like, man, Gen and I had dibs!”

 

She rolled her eyes, eating another bite. “Ok, I agree in that case. Dibs my ass.”

* * *

 

They talked essentially small talk about how their days were as they ate. They laughed, teased and it was generally a good time, as always. It could be dinner together like any other time. One thing Kate couldn't help but notice was that they both seemed to be avoiding the Wendigo in the room, what last night meant, if anything, for them and for the future.

 

She wanted to assume that this wonderful dinner, the effort he went to in cleaning up his apartment and getting an actual table and dishes meant that their night together did mean something. He still kissed her, he wasn't pushing her away or anything. If he didn't want anything more, he wouldn't have gone to all this effort, right?

 

But part of her still assumed the worst. Maybe all this effort was to let her down easy. Or maybe he wanted just the physical aspect, no strings attached. That didn't sound like Jensen at all but then again, she couldn't remember very many conversations about his view on casual sex. Maybe his view had changed after his messy divorce.

 

“Do you want dessert?” Jensen asked as she helped him bring the dishes into the kitchen. “I have a chocolate mousse in the fridge.”

 

She groaned. Chocolate mousse was one of her favorites but she didn't want to overeat. “I'll explode if I eat anything else right now.”

 

He nodded. “Me too. Come on, let's go relax on the couch. Dessert can wait.” He led her by the hand to his overstuffed couch, one she'd fallen asleep on more than once hanging out watching a movie with him and Jared. Now it was just the two of them and it seemed almost natural to relax there with him, his arm around her waist, holding her close, her back to his side. He even went as far to turn on the TV to a station that was just the recording of a roaring fireplace. It was meant for Christmas but right then it was romantic. “So I never asked, did you get advice from the girls? Telling you to beware of evil men who play Winchesters?”

 

She smiled having closed her eyes at the simple pleasure of being held by this man. “I did get some advice. Mostly that we needed to talk before any further funny business happened.”

 

“Hmm. Sound advice.”

 

“Yeah. I thought so.”

 

They were both quiet for a long minute before they both laughed a little. “Kind of a weird conversation to try and start, don't you think? How about this? I know that brilliant mind of yours has questions. Why don't we try answering those and see where it takes us.”

 

“Okay.” She sat up, a little reluctantly and turned so she could see his face. She needed to see his face for this kind of conversation. “Well, I guess there's no better way to say it than to say it. Umm, what exactly made you...I mean, why last night? What was it about last night that made you suddenly want to kiss me?” She felt incredibly awkward and embarrassed, like she'd regressed in age about 20 years. Not a good time for her.

 

“What makes you think it was sudden or just last night?” He countered a sparkle in his eye. “Last night was just the first time I acted on it.”

 

Wait.

 

What?

 

Her face must have shown her surprise because he smiled softly. “Yes, Kate. I've wanted to kiss you before. Many, many times.”

 

“You have?” She winced at the near squeak of disbelief in her voice. Her mind desperately tried to think of any instance where she could remember a look or something that would have hinted to that. Jensen wasn't as physically demonstrative with his affection as Jared but he was still very sweet and affectionate. Had she dismissed the very idea of his hugs or his flirting meaning more when they actually had? When had she ended up in this backwards universe?

 

He nodded. “Yeah. I just, I don't know. I guess I was waiting for the right moment or something. Last night just felt right. Maybe everything had to be aligned. I don't know. I think I just wanted to know if after three years of being so incredibly close and everything we've been through if maybe, just maybe, you know.”

 

Wow. He had wanted to kiss her before. If he was going to be that honest, she could too. “Same here.”

 

A corner of his mouth turned up. “Yeah?”

 

She nodded. She never thought she'd be having this conversation with him. “Apparently we've been making googly eyes at each other for a while. The girls showed me pictures online and there are a ton. At least it seems that way. The fans apparently for the most part love it. Unresolved sexual tension and all.”

 

He chuckled, amused. “Yeah, I see that.” He paused. “Ok, my turn. When did I become more than the better of your two bosses for you?”

 

Oh boy. Even with his humorous way of asking it, this was the question with the answer she wasn't sure how he'd react to. But like he'd said earlier, she was a terrible liar. She had no choice but to tell the truth. “Umm, it was before I became your assistant to be honest.”

 

She'd become his assistant right around the time of his divorce, just a few weeks prior when his previous one decided he needed to focus on his own acting career and moved back to Los Angeles full time. Tommy had been the kind of assistant that thought it was a 8 hour a day job and so she'd already been picking up most of the slack. There was also the fact that he probably didn't want to deal with Jensen's then wife anymore. That she couldn't blame him for but she'd lucked out and hadn't had to deal with her much. To be the assistant to both Jared and Jensen honestly wasn't that difficult. She'd been Jared's assistant for nearly a year or so by then so it wasn't like she had no idea what she was getting into.

 

His eyebrows went up. He hadn't expected that answer. “How much before?”

 

She bit her lip, looking away from him for a few moments a bit embarrassed. “I dunno exactly when.” She looked back to see him watching her intently, with only curiosity on his face. “But you were married when I realized it for the first time.”

 

He reached up and with his thumb, gently worked her bottom lip out from where she had been worrying it with her teeth. “Sweetheart, there's nothing wrong with that. If I'm honest with myself, I'd have to say the same.”

 

“Really?” Seriously? _Is that why your ex was such a bitch to me the few times I met her? Is that why she all but accused you of abandoning her for me? Did she know?_

 

“Yeah.” He gave her the softest smile, his eyes searching hers. He didn't seem embarrassed or ashamed. It was more like he was relieved to finally say it outloud and maybe admit it willingly to himself.

 

She really was in an alternate universe.

 

“So, what happens now?”

 

He let his arm rest against the back of the couch, making the collar of his dress shirt open up a bit more. “I've been thinking about that all day. I don't really know. What do you think? What do you want?”

 

“I've been thinking about it too. I don't really know either. I mean, this is so not my territory at all. I like, I like this. You and me being relaxed and everything. That's something that isn't new for us. And last night, well, yeah.”

 

He smiled at her, letting her babble because he knew she did it when she was nervous and it was so much easier just to let her. “It's not my territory either, sweetheart. Well, hasn't been for a long time. I just know that right now we're in a warm safe bubble where it's just the two of us without issue. Outside of that? To be honest, it's not easy for me to really date or anything. Hell it's hard for any kind of a relationship.”

 

And like that, it was like everything had crashed down. The thing she'd hoped against so much and here it was. He was doing it very very gently but just the same, he was saying it. It didn't matter that last night was amazing for both of them or that they had chemistry or had been attracted to each other for nearly the whole time they'd known each other.

 

In the end, he didn't want more. Tonight was it. Dating wasn't easy for him, not that he'd tried and she wasn't about to argue that point. She was going to be an adult and be mature and just accept what he wanted.

 

Even if it broke her heart.

 

“Yeah. I get that.” She took a deep breath and moved to stand up. “Thanks for dinner. I really should be getting home. I have a small army of shopping bags to go through and then I have so much to do tomorrow. I'll see myself out.” She said quickly, knowing it was just a matter of time before she lost the control she had on her emotions. She was 36 years old and yet again, she'd set herself up for disappointment. And it wasn't Jensen's fault, it was hers for imagining what couldn't be and convincing herself it could. She wasn't going to be one of those girls who didn't get the hint and then had to have things spelled out and have it hurt that much more. Stupid! “Have a good night.” She headed toward the door, focusing on her coat hanging nearby.

 

“Kate, Kate, baby stop.” Jensen was quick to move and block her from moving closer to the door with his body, putting his hands on her arms. “Sweetheart, you aren't listening.”

 

“I am and I understand. I get it. I mean, I do, really. I mean it hasn't been that long since the divorce and everything and we both have our issues and stuff. And then there's everything with work too. No need to add dating or whatever on top of that.” She babbled, barely knowing what she was saying but so desperate to get to her coat and get to her car before she lost it. How could she have been so stupid?

 

“I said one thing and you heard the complete opposite, sweetheart. Please, give me a second, okay? Just take a second and let me try to explain a little better?”

 

She swallowed, avoiding his eyes simply because she didn't want to see the pity in them and nodded, letting him gently urge her back to the couch. She'd let him talk but she needed to try and hold on until she could get out of there. Just yes him to death and agree and say she understood and then book it.

 

He took a deep breath, holding her hands in his. “Baby, it's not that I don't want something more with you. I do. I have for a long time. Last night was not just...an itch to be scratched. A question to be answered. I'd never ever use you like that. I just don't want you to get hurt because I'm fucked up or because my work would give us more attention than most relationships ever have to deal with.”

 

“You aren't fucked up, Jensen.” She said softly, focusing on how small her hands looked in his and how delicately he held them instead of him calling her baby more than once. He probably didn't even realize he did it. “Remember who you are talking to? I'm more than broken, I'm practically shattered. I have next to no experience in any of this. Kids in elementary school probably have more experience than me. I mean, that's a headache no one wants to deal with, especially with that added attention.”

 

One of his hands let go of hers and went to her face, cupping it. “Kate, you aren't broken. You aren't a headache. Experience doesn't mean shit. You just don't have the baggage other people might.” She was forced to look into his eyes that were wide and searching, almost like he was desperate to find a way to better explain himself. “There's no exact plan for a relationship, how it's supposed to start or how it's supposed to be. Believe me, I learned that the hard way. I didn't know my ex as well as I should have and I rushed things. I got married for the wrong reasons, I see that now.”

 

She went to speak, asking how that was any different from last night considering they went from their first kiss to sex in a very short amount of time but he put his fingertip to her lip, silencing her.

 

“Sweetheart, we've been dancing around each other for three years. I'm pretty sure you know me better than I know myself. You've supported me through the roughest time of my life. You've always been there with a hug or a funny text or just a smile and that's meant more to me than my entire marriage did.”

 

He lifted the hand he was still holding and pressed a kiss to her knuckles while never breaking eye contact. She couldn't believe all he was confessing. Did she really mean that much to him?

 

“Kate, 3 years ago, I had no idea you even existed. And now? Now I can't imagine my life without you in it. Don't ever think last night didn't mean anything to me or that I wouldn't want to experience that again or even more with you.”

 

She gasped softly at the confession and the absolute honesty in his eyes. He was pouring his heart out to her, putting himself out there even though that hadn't always worked out for him in the past. He was trusting her. Begging her not to leave.

 

She took a chance and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to his lips that met her halfway before pulling back. “You really mean it?”

 

“I can't lie to you, Kate.” He said softly, one of his hands caressing her face. “I want this, with you. I just, I don't want you to get hurt because it's not always easy. Between me and the fans and stuff, it can be overwhelming. I understand if that's not something you want to deal with, it's a lot to ask of someone.”

 

“I've managed this long and survived. I think I'll be okay.”

 

He smiled, pressing a kiss to her lips this time, still soft and slow. “You want this? You and me?”

 

“Yeah. Yeah I really do.”

 

He was smiling as he kissed her again, a bit more purposely, his other hand resting on her hip. It was strange how familiar his kiss felt even though she'd only first experienced it just the night before for the first time. It wasn't awkward in the least and he was incredibly attentive to what she wanted as he deepened the kiss with teasing nips and soothing touches.

 

He lifted her then, pulling her onto his lap, his arms wrapping around her tightly as they kissed. It wasn't desperate and wanton like the night before in her kitchen had been. No, now it was slow and deliberate.

 

“This skirt has been torturing me all night.” He managed between kisses, his hips rocking up as her hips rocked against him, backing them both break their kiss to groan. Their bodies had become quickly attuned to each other. She could feel his arousal, his arousal for her. His one arm was wrapped tight around her but the other had moved and his hand had slid up her leg, taking her skirt with it as he stroked her hip before gripping to urge her to move down against him.

 

She gasped as his mouth moved to her throat and he went right for the spot he'd discovered the night before that'd made her knees weak. “Wimp.”

 

He chuckled against her skin, nipping at her shoulder as his hands went for the tie to her sweater wrap, quick to free her of it's confines. “I can't help it. I'm only human.” He pressed kisses along her clavicle, her head rolling back as he peppered kisses to the tops of her breasts along the edge of the tank top.

 

On shaky legs, she managed to disengage from him though every part of her seemed to be singing for his touch. The skirt that had been ridden up to her hips fell back down to her ankles though she could still feel the heat of Jensen's hands on her skin and the pressure of his arousal against her, like a phantom. He looked confused until she held out her hand to him. “Then we should get rid of the skirt, don't you think?”

 

He was quick to grab her hand and stand, pulling her to him and kissing her again. “Mmm, I like that idea.”

 

He led her by the hand to his bedroom without further ado, opening the door and stepping backwards into it, his eyes on her. She again was shocked by another transformed room. It was neat and tidy, the bed turned down with fresh crisp and probably brand new sheets. He really had gone all out for this night. Again, how could she have doubted him?

 

“Give me a second in the bathroom, okay?”

He nodded, his hazel eyes that never seemed fixed on a single color were completely blown out, giving him a very intense gaze.

 

She retreated to the bathroom, taking a deep breath and looking at herself in the mirror, seeing for the first time what she looked like after being thoroughly kissed and aroused by Jensen. She giggled under her breath at how ridiculous it all was as she quickly undressed, revealing the bit of lingerie that she'd worn. She didn't remember what it was technically called, just that it accentuated her chest and managed to make her legs look a bit longer. How it managed to do that with such little fabric, she had no idea.

 

A quick attempt at adjusting her riotous curls and she turned off the bathroom light to step back into the bedroom where Jensen had been busy. He hadn't undressed but instead was going around the bedroom turning on a number of battery powered tealights to give the room a romantic glow.

 

She couldn't help but smile, even though she was standing there in her underwear watching him. He was trying so hard to make this special, to do all the romantic things he wouldn't admit he was a sucker for but she knew. She was his assistant and his friend. More than that, people talked and she was very good at noticing things. He was an amazing actor but with the exception of the attraction he'd apparently had for her, she could read him like a book.

 

“Now this is romantic.” She said softly, not wanting to make him jump as he had gone to sit on the end of the bed to wait for her, not realizing she'd been watching him.

 

“I thought...” He stopped talking as he turned his head and saw her and more importantly saw what she was wearing. She'd heard of people having their jaws drop but it wasn't quite as dramatic as in cartoons. Just the same, it was flattering to see the look of shock on his face.

 

“Do you like it? It's a bit more subtle and relaxed, not to mention a bit more comfortable.”

 

“Do I like it?” He stood up, the shock leaving his face to be replaced by a very fierce determination as he took a deep breath, his eyes roving over her in such a way she was convinced she could feel trails of heat left behind. “Do I like it?” He repeated, stalking the few feet over to her before he grabbed her with one hand on her hip, the other on her neck as he pulled her into a passionate kiss. “Sweetheart, I can't make up my mind just how much I like it.”

 

“Oh?” She questioned dumbly, panting for breath, fighting the urge to just shove him back onto the bed and get back to what they'd been doing on the couch. “Tell me.”

 

He moved his head to trail his lips along her jaw and then her neck, his hands exploring on their own, tracing the lace and satin of the lingergie. “I like it so much I can't decide if I want to carry you to my bed and see just how much I can make you scream tonight or if I should just take you right here against the wall.” He nipped at her neck and then her shoulder as he moved them to press her against that wall, rocking his hips and his obvious arousal against her. His lips found hers again and she gasped at the wantonness of it all given he was still fully dressed and she was far from it. “Tell me what you want.”

 

She moaned, her hands gripping desperately at his back and strong shoulders. “You. I just want you.”

 

She felt him smile against her neck before he swiftly moved to lift her into his arms. She needed no encouragement to wrap her legs around his waist or her arms around his neck. All she wanted was more of what they started last night. Now it wasn't just lust though, they both knew where the other stood and they were going to try for an actual relationship.

 

As he turned them and took a few long steps toward the already made bed, one of his hands firmly planted on her ass, she decided if anything, she rather liked this strange new world she'd found herself in.

 

 


	12. Jensen

This dating thing wasn't as bad as he remembered or as difficult. It honestly didn't feel any different than any other dinner he might have had with Kate and there had been a ton. She'd more than earned her “Momma” nickname early on in the way she made sure that he and Jared and pretty much anyone in her eyesight had enough to eat. It was nice to have an assistant that wanted to spend time with you verses his former assistant who had seen it as only a job and nothing more.

 

Of course with Kate, after last night, it was a lot more. This dinner was very different in the fact that he knew her in an entirely different way now. He knew the feel of her lips, how she tasted, how she sounded and how she felt wrapped around him. He knew all that now, he didn't have to wonder or fantasize about it like he had many a guilty time in the past. Though if he was to be honest, the guilt had become less and less after his divorce and the slight indentation from his wedding ring had disappeared.

 

He wasn't really sure what the future held but he knew that he wanted more nights like this. Nights of her dressing up for him and no doubt not realizing she was torturing him just by the way her clothes hinted at what was underneath. Where had she been hiding that skirt all this time? He wanted more of being able to kiss her whenever he wanted, especially after spending time apart. He'd wanted her for so long now and ironically now he wanted her more. How did that work?

 

“Do you want dessert?” He asked even though he was completely stuffed. He really had over ordered on the food and he'd have leftovers to last him until probably he headed for Texas. “I have a chocolate mousse in the fridge.”

 

She groaned, following behind him with her own plate and silverware, insisting on helping him clean up. Not a surprise. Her groan made him smirk because he knew chocolate mousse was one of her favorites. “I'll explode if I eat anything else right now.”

 

He nodded. Thank god. “Me too. Come on, let's go relax on the couch. Dessert can wait.” He led her over to the couch by the hand and they settled down together, her back to his side as he wrapped one arm around her waist. Using his free hand, he turned on the TV to the station he'd left it on before she arrived, specifically the yuletide fireplace show or whatever it was called. It figured that when he'd picked out this apartment, he'd hadn't put much thought into any future potential romance. A real fireplace would have been good for that. This would have to do.

 

“So I never asked, did you get advice from the girls? Telling you to beware of evil men who play Winchesters?” He could just imagine the kind of advice that Kim and Briana could come up with. The only thing worse would be what Misha and Rich would come up with just to torture him.

 

“I did get some advice. Mostly that we needed to talk before any further funny business happened.”

 

“Hmm. Sound advice.” Not a surprise since Jared had pretty much said the same thing. Not that it wasn't something either of them would have thought of on their own.

 

“Yeah. I thought so.”

 

They were both quiet for a long minute before they both laughed a little. “Kind of a weird conversation to try and start, don't you think? How about this? I know that brilliant mind of yours has questions. Why don't we try answering those and see where it takes us.”

 

“Okay.” She sat up and turned to look at him, her hands folded in her lap. “Well, I guess there's no better way to say it than to say it. Umm, what exactly made you...I mean, why last night? What was it about last night that made you suddenly want to kiss me?”

 

“What makes you think it was sudden or just last night?” He couldn't decide whether to cry or laugh at how blind she was to the idea of a man being attracted to her even when he was blatantly obvious like Jensen knew he had been over the last three years. Did she really think all that flirting had just been a game? “Last night was just the first time I acted on it.”

 

He couldn't help but feel an immense affection for this quirky beautiful woman as he watched her hear his words, contemplate them and then truly realize what he was saying. The surprise and almost shock in her eyes was adorable. How many women were this modest? It made him smile at the innocence of it. “Yes, Kate. I've wanted to kiss you before. Many, many times.”

 

“You have?” Her voice almost squeaked. He wondered how she could still hold on to that disbelief considering what had happened the night before. She knew he wasn't that spontaneous and that he wouldn't just randomly decide to hook up with just anyone, let alone her. Last night had been a far cry from hook up sex. If he had to put a label on it, making love would sound cheesy but it'd be accurate.

 

Yeah. I just, I don't know. I guess I was waiting for the right moment or something. Last night just felt right. Maybe everything had to be aligned. I don't know. I think I just wanted to know if after three years of being so incredibly close and everything we've been through if maybe, just maybe, you know.”

 

How could he not want to kiss her after she'd been there for him even before she'd officially become his assistant? The way she'd stood by him even when his ex had spread those rumors that had included her. The way she didn't think anything of staying on set as long as he and Jared were there even when they'd both told her she could go? The way she knew when he was having a bad day and went out of her way to make it better?

 

The real question was, why had he waited so long?

 

Her voice was very soft when she replied with two simple words. “Same here.”

 

He felt a smile take his lips. So he hadn't imagined those few times he'd thought he caught her glancing at his mouth or staring at him. He wondered if it was why she was the reason she was one of the best assistants out there. It was a way for them to spend time together without it looking like she was trying too hard. “Yeah?”

 

She nodded. “Apparently we've been making googly eyes at each other for a while. The girls showed me pictures online and there are a ton. At least it seems that way. The fans apparently for the most part love it. Unresolved sexual tension and all.”

 

He chuckled, of course the fans would have seen it. Then again the fans were pretty good at being able to see whatever they wanted to see but this time he agreed with them. “Yeah, I see that.” He paused. “Ok, my turn. When did I become more than the better of your two bosses for you?” It was a running joke between him and Jared as to who was “better” or her “favorite” even though they both knew that she would never choose one over the other.

 

As an assistant that was. Jared was out of the running outside of work and Jensen mentally sent love down to Texas and to Gen for that.

 

She paused for long seconds and he knew that she was trying to figure out how to answer. He knew she wouldn't lie, she wasn't very good at it and this was far from the kind of conversation that you didn't tell the truth in. “Umm, it was before I became your assistant to be honest.”

 

Oh really?

 

That would have put it when he was still married. Of course she'd practically been his assistant before that since Tommy, his ex-assistant didn't seem to really understand what made an assistant good at their job was actually being there when your employer needed you. He couldn't even remember the last time Tommy had stayed on the set past midnight. Kate officially became his assistant only to be there a few weeks later when a courier delivered the petition for divorce from his ex out of the blue. Abandonment and irreconcilable differences.

 

He remembered the way she'd quickly gone into crisis mode, getting him to sit down and promise just to stay there while she went and got Jared. According to more than one witness, Kate had run top speed to the set that day and Kate wasn't a runner. But she had been for him.

 

Damn, now he wanted to kiss her again just for that day in particular.

 

Now he was curious. “How much before?”

 

She bit her lip, looking away from him for a few moments, her cheeks pink. “I dunno exactly when.” She looked back with wide eyes, probably wondering how he'd react to what she was about to say. “But you were married when I realized it for the first time.”

 

He reached up and with his thumb, gently worked her bottom lip out from where she had been worrying it with her teeth. This conversation would end pretty abruptly if she didn't stop teasing him without even knowing she was doing it by worrying that plump little lip. “Sweetheart, there's nothing wrong with that. If I'm honest with myself, I'd have to say the same.”

 

He'd been thinking about it a great deal the last few weeks but especially since last night. If he was completely honest with himself, he'd been attracted to her before the divorce. It hadn't been an instantaneous thing but somewhere between quick and gradual. He'd questioned if it had been a rebound before the divorce papers had been served since his marriage had been on the rocks since before either he or Jared had even met Kate. But no, she wasn't rebound and after all this time since the divorce, to only have that attraction grow? That just confirmed it.

 

“Really?” There was that disbelief again. Didn't she wonder just why his ex had been so threatened by her specifically even if he hadn't consciously recognized how he'd felt then?

 

“Yeah.” He tried to reassure her, keeping eye contact so she knew how serious he was.

 

“So, what happens now?”

 

He rested his arm on the back of the couch. Wasn't that the million dollar question? He knew Kate wasn't experienced in relationships and even with as well as she knew him, she was still wary. He couldn't blame her. She'd had enough heartache in her life losing her family, why would she haphazardly risk more pain? “I've been thinking about that all day. I don't really know. What do you think? What do you want?” It was important that if she wanted something more that it be on equal ground, a decision made by both of them.

 

“I've been thinking about it too. I don't really know either. I mean, this is so not my territory at all. I like, I like this. You and me being relaxed and everything. That's something that isn't new for us. And last night, well, yeah.”

 

He had to resist the urge to kiss her to ease her nerves, shown by her babbling. How many times had he had that urge in the last three years? He'd lost count. “It's not my territory either, sweetheart. Well, hasn't been for a long time. I just know that right now we're in a warm safe bubble where it's just the two of us without issue. Outside of that? To be honest, it's not easy for me to really date or anything. Hell it's hard for any kind of a relationship.”

 

He wasn't going to lie to her. Right now was the easiest part. No one knew except the two of them and a few select friends. He knew there wouldn't be any issues with any of the cast or crew because they all knew Kate, they all loved her. If anything, he was going to get threatened till Doomsday not to hurt her. Outside of that was where the problem was. What happened when his ex found out? Thankfully they had never had any children so there wasn't any risk of losing custody or anything of the sort. But she'd get the rumors started again and try to play the victim and cast Kate as a homewrecker. He figured most of the fans would be supportive but there was always a small element that could be vicious for no reason. He didn't want to put Kate through that unnecessarily.

 

Plus there was the fact that he was by Hollywood standards an aging divorced actor. He'd been doing this stuff for most of his life while she'd spent most of that time in academia. Would she grow tired of their time together pretty much dependant on his schedule? It helped that she was his assistant but would a relationship put a strain on that or vice versa? The whole thing made his head spin.

 

“Yeah. I get that.” She took a deep breath and moved to stand up. “Thanks for dinner. I really should be getting home. I have a small army of shopping bags to go through and then I have so much to do tomorrow. I'll see myself out.” She paused as she stood. “Have a good night.” And with that, she started heading for the door and probably her coat.

 

He was confused for a second as to why she was suddenly pulling away, both physically and emotionally. Why was she leaving?

 

Wait, did she assume that he was trying to let her down? That his explanation wasn't about how things wouldn't be easy but how he didn't even want to try?

 

Shit! Shit!

 

“Kate, Kate, baby stop.” Jensen was quick to move and block her from moving closer to the door with his body, putting his hands on her arms. He couldn't let her leave thinking that he wasn't interested in something more. He cursed whoever the asshole had made her just naturally assume the worst and doubt herself so badly. “Sweetheart, you aren't listening.”

 

“I am and I understand. I get it. I mean, I do, really. I mean it hasn't been that long since the divorce and everything and we both have our issues and stuff. And then there's everything with work too. No need to add dating or whatever on top of that.” She was babbling and by the pink that was showing in her cheeks and the way she was blinking, he could tell she was trying very hard not to get upset but she was close to losing the fight.

 

“I said one thing and you heard the complete opposite, sweetheart. Please, give me a second, okay? Just take a second and let me try to explain a little better?” _Please give me a chance. I'm such a shit, I should have phrased it better. Please don't cry. Please don't. It kills me when you cry._

 

She swallowed, avoiding his eyes and nodded, letting him gently urge her back to the couch. He took that as a small victory. Now all he had to do was figure out how to explain himself and turn this thing around without digging himself a deeper hole and potentially ruining any chance he had with her. Gee, was that all?

 

He took a deep breath, holding her hands in his as he focused on making sure he was as clear as possible without coming on too strong and freaking her out. “Baby, it's not that I don't want something more with you. I do. I have for a long time. Last night was not just...an itch to be scratched. A question to be answered. I'd never ever use you like that. I just don't want you to get hurt because I'm fucked up or because my work would give us more attention than most relationships ever have to deal with.”

 

“You aren't fucked up, Jensen.” She said softly, looking down at their joined hands. He was always amazed by how tiny her hands were and yet somehow she managed to give better massages than most masseuses. “Remember who you are talking to? I'm more than broken, I'm practically shattered. I have next to no experience in any of this. Kids in elementary school probably have more experience than me. I mean, that's a headache no one wants to deal with, especially with that added attention.”

 

He couldn't help himself as one of his hands let go of hers and went to her face, cupping it. Did she honestly see herself so negatively? Or did she just assume that was how other people saw her? Where was the strong confident woman he knew? The one who'd thought nothing of tackling Misha by surprise when they'd been on location at some random motel just because he'd made a joke a few days earlier about how tiny she was. Was she just trying to give him an out?

 

“Kate, you aren't broken. You aren't a headache. Experience doesn't mean shit. You just don't have the baggage other people might.” With his hand cupping her face, she couldn't turn her head away and he hoped that she was letting herself read him like she normally did. _Come on, Kate. You know me. Trust me please._ “There's no exact plan for a relationship, how it's supposed to start or how it's supposed to be. Believe me, I learned that the hard way. I didn't know my ex as well as I should have and I rushed things. I got married for the wrong reasons, I see that now.”

 

She went to speak and with his other hand, he put a fingertip to her lips to stop her. He wasn't done and he knew that brilliant brain of hers was questioning how that was any different from what had happened the night before. It couldn't have been more different. He'd barely known his ex for six months before she brought up the idea of marriage and he'd been stupid or drugged or something and just went for it. He'd known Kate for years before he even kissed her.

 

Now was the time for him to really put himself out there for the first time since forever.

 

“Sweetheart, we've been dancing around each other for three years. I'm pretty sure you know me better than I know myself. You've supported me through the roughest time of my life. You've always been there with a hug or a funny text or just a smile and that's meant more to me than my entire marriage did.”

 

He lifted the hand he was still holding and pressed a kiss to her knuckles while never breaking eye contact. _Come on sweetheart. Read my mind like you always do. You know I'm telling the truth._ Now for the big truth.

 

“Kate, 3 years ago, I had no idea you even existed. And now? Now I can't imagine my life without you in it. Don't ever think last night didn't mean anything to me or that I wouldn't want to experience that again or even more with you.”

 

She gasped, probably not expecting him to be so blatant. It was really out of character for him even though there was very little he'd ever kept from her. Jared was more likely to talk about emotions and feelings than he was. He hoped she recognized that.

 

She must have because she leaned forward, her eyes flicking down to his lips. He met her halfway in a soft kiss and prayed to the universe it wasn't about to be their last. “You really mean it?”

 

“I can't lie to you, Kate.” He said softly, caressing her face with one hand. “I want this, with you. I just, I don't want you to get hurt because it's not always easy. Between me and the fans and stuff, it can be overwhelming. I understand if that's not something you want to deal with, it's a lot to ask of someone.” It would hurt like hell if she decided that it would be too much but he'd respect her decision.

 

“I've managed this long and survived. I think I'll be okay.”

 

He smiled even though mentally he was throwing a ticker tape parade with a huge brass band. This time he initiated the kiss, keeping it soft and slow. “You want this? You and me?”

 

“Yeah. Yeah I really do.”

 

He couldn't help the stupid ass grin on his face as he kissed her again, a bit more purposely, his other hand resting on her hip. How had he managed to end up this lucky? He could feel her smile against his lips and he thrilled in the way she responded to him. He'd noticed it the night before too. Their kisses hadn't had that awkward few moments where they figured each other out. They just worked. That made him strangely giddy as he deepened the kiss with teasing nips and soothing touches.

 

Deciding to be bold, he lifted her then, pulling her onto his lap, his arms wrapping around her tightly as they kissed. It was slow and it was deliberate. They'd used their words now it was time for a different kind of communication. She went easily, one of her hands moving to pull her skirt up just a bit so she could more easily straddle him while the other stayed fisted in his shirt.

 

“This skirt has been torturing me all night.” He managed between kisses, his hips rocking up as her hips rocked against him, backing them both break their kiss to groan. His confident girl was back. His one arm was wrapped tight around her and moved the other so his hand slid up her leg, taking her skirt with it as he stroked her hip before gripping to urge her to move down against him. His pants had become uncomfortably tight and he knew she was fully aware by the way she rocked against his arousal. If she kept this up he was going to ruin his pants but fuck, he didn't want her to stop and these pants were so worth it.

 

She gasped as he broke their kiss to give attention to her neck, specifically a spot he'd found the night before that had made her grab onto him to keep standing. He prided himself on finding that spot so quickly and he fully planned to exploit it as much as he could. “Wimp.”

 

He chuckled against her skin, nipping at her shoulder as his hands went for the tie to her sweater wrap, quick to free her of it's confines. “I can't help it. I'm only human.” He pressed kisses along her clavicle, her head rolling back as he peppered kisses to the tops of her breasts along the edge of the tank top. He appreciated that she'd dressed up for him tonight but right now the clothes were just in the way.

 

Then out of nowhere, she pulled away and even went so far as to get off him and stand up. He watched disappointed as the skirt gave in to gravity and fell back down, covering her legs. Where was she going? He knew he had to look like the most confused guy on the planet until she held out a hand to him. “Then we should get rid of the skirt, don't you think?”

 

Oh thank god.

 

He was quick to grab her hand and stand, pulling her to him and kissing her again. “Mmm, I like that idea.”

 

He led her by the hand to his bedroom without further ado, opening the door and stepping backwards into it, his eyes on her. He wanted to see her reaction to what had managed to get done to the bedroom. It wasn't much beyond picking up small mountains of clothes, making the bed with clean sheets and everything. Just the same, he saw the amazement in her eyes.

 

“Give me a second in the bathroom, okay?”

 

He nodded silently, watching her as she headed to the bathroom, turned on the light and closed the door behind her.

 

He took a deep breath and immediately went to work on the one bit he'd added to the bedroom that she hadn't noticed yet. He'd heard too many horror stories about actual candles so he'd bought a few packages of the battery operated kind and had placed them throughout the room but had left them off. He had had hopes that the evening would end up here but he didn't want to make it look like he assumed that it would by having the bedroom all candlelit.

 

Halfway through, he turned off the bedroom light, the little lights providing the perfect romantic glow. Last night had been amazing but now he was getting the chance to make it romantic. Well, more romantic.

 

He turned on the last of the little lights, flicking the tiny switch with his thumbnail and moved to sit on the bed to wait for her when her soft voice broke the silence. He hadn't even heard the bathroom door open or realized she'd been standing there for however long. “Now this is romantic.”

 

“I thought...” He turned his head and almost immediately lost his ability to speak at the sight of her. Gone was the Skirt of Torture and the tank top. He'd had no idea that underneath that had been this.

 

Kate was wearing lingerie. He didn't know the technical terms for what she was wearing but the way the dark green lace and silk fitted her was like it was specifically made for her. The lacy cup part accentuated her full breasts, teasing but not giving away everything like some lingerie did. From there, sheer silk flowed to her waist, not clinging but more like flowing naturally against her curves.

 

Then there were the panties. They matched the cups with their lace panels, held together by a simple string that he was already looking forward to either snapping or pulling off with his teeth.

 

Forget worrying about having the candles already going, had she really been wearing this the whole time?

 

“Do you like it? It's a bit more subtle and relaxed, not to mention a bit more comfortable.” She was biting her lip and he had to keep from growling at the simple action while she was dressed like that. His mind flashed back to the night before when he'd just thrown her over his shoulder and marched to her bedroom, his animal brain taking over.

 

How did she manage to keep making him want her more than he already did?

 

“Do I like it?” He stood up, channeling a bit of the “Winchester Fierce” as Kate termed it as he blatantly let his eyes rove up and down her body. He had no idea where he wanted to start but he fully planned on exploring every inch of her. And then buying her a dozen more of these things because he was pretty sure this one wasn't going to make it much longer than the next few minutes.

 

“Do I like it?” He repeated, stalking the few feet over to her before he grabbed her with one hand on her hip, the other on her neck as he pulled her into a passionate kiss. “Sweetheart, I can't make up my mind just how much I like it.” It was the truth.

 

“Oh?” She questioned with a soft panting breath, her eyes dark with arousal, her lips swollen from his kisses. “Tell me.”

 

He moved his head to trail his lips along her jaw and then her neck, his hands exploring on their own, tracing the lace and satin of the lingerie. He was going to make sure she knew just how much he enjoyed this little surprise she'd given him. “I like it so much I can't decide if I want to carry you to my bed and see just how much I can make you scream tonight or if I should just take you right here against the wall.” He nipped at her neck and then her shoulder as he moved them to press her against that wall, rocking his hips and his obvious arousal against her. She gasped as she clung to him, her body naturally moving back against his. “Tell me what you want.”

 

She moaned, her hands gripping desperately at his back and strong shoulders. “You. I just want you.”

 

He smiled against her neck before he swiftly moved to lift her into his arms. She needed no encouragement to wrap her legs around his waist or her arms around his neck. That was exactly what he'd wanted to hear as he turned and took a few steps toward the bed, one hand cupping a firm butt cheek and giving it a squeeze. He was looking very much forward to showing her over and over again how much he wanted her. Not just here in the bedroom but in their new relationship.

 

 


	13. Kate

Kate couldn't remember the last time she woke up feeling happy, nevermind this happy. This morning was far from a repeat of the day before. There was no sudden realization that she was naked in bed with Jensen. Instead of him spooning her, he was on his back with his arms wrapped around her while she had her face pressed into his neck and her arm thrown over his chest.

 

And she felt incredibly content.

 

Was this really happening? There was no way of dismissing any of it as a one off or just relieving tension. Not after last night. She'd never felt so wanted or desired in her life than she did with this man. He was a tender lover, intent completely on her pleasure but at the same time he could be incredibly intense. In his efforts to undress her, he'd actually snapped the straps holding the panels of the panties on her hips. Instead of apologizing, he just made a promise to buy her a dozen more so he could snap those too.

 

Laying there, she was almost embarrassed at the way she'd panicked the morning before even though with the knowledge she'd had then, it'd made sense. Now? There was no panic. Maybe a curiosity, to find out just how everything was going to work out. She wondered how people would react when they found out. They'd decided as they'd laid there post-coital and boneless, that they wouldn't do any kind of announcement like celebrities tended to do in Hollywood. If people figured it out, they figured it out. There'd be no denial, no hiding, but there wouldn't be any formal declarations.

 

She sighed as her bladder woke up too and knew she'd have to get up no matter how comfortable she was right then and there. She moved to get out of the bed only to have Jensen tighten his arms around her.

 

“Whereyagoin'” He slurred, still mostly asleep. “Go back sleep.”

 

She smiled, always amused at how he was when he was half asleep. One of the things she'd learned quickly when she first started working for Jared was just how quickly he and Jensen could fall asleep to take advantage of any time they could get to rest. But when there was no need to be awake, they could be near impossible to wake up. “I need to pee. You go back to sleep.” She moved to press a kiss against his lips.

 

“Mmpf.” He sleepily huffed after kissing her back and he let go of her only to snatch her pillow and wrap his arms around that instead.

 

She shook her head and adjusted the comforter over him before heading to the bathroom. She did her needed business and washed up a bit, pleased when she found that Jensen still had the pack of disposable toothbrushes in the cabinet under the sink that she'd convinced him he should have when he first moved into the apartment. She ran her fingers through her hair, thankful that she'd decided to do a conditioning treatment the day before to make it somewhat managable today.

 

Refreshed, she decided that it was her turn to cook breakfast. The only problem was that the only clothes she really had here was her outfit from last night. The panties were a lost cause and she didn't really want to wear the same clothes again. She went to Jensen's dresser and picked out a pair of his boxers to wear and then a tshirt, making use of her tank top from the night before as a kind of undershirt so she wasn't bouncing her boobs all over the place.

 

“Mmm, it's depressing watching you get dressed but fuck I like seeing you in my clothes.”

 

She turned to see Jensen watching her from the bed, still curled around her pillow, his eyes sleepy but happy. “You do huh?” She smiled, climbing onto the bed and giving him a kiss. It was thrilling to be able to now and not have to restrain herself. “What do you want for breakfast? My turn this morning.”

 

“Oh I have a few very dirty suggestions.” He said with a promising smile, grabbing her and twisting them so she was underneath him and went for her neck, making her cling to his shoulders.

 

The sound of his stomach rumbling a moment later made them both stop and then burst out laughing.

 

“I think your stomach won't appreciate your suggestions.” Kate giggled, feeling a bit flushed from just the ideas her own mind came up with from the tone of his voice and the feel of his body against hers. Her hands stroked his strong back as he groaned in frustration, collapsing half on her and half on the bed, letting his forehead fall against her shoulder. “Come on, you made me breakfast yesterday, I'll make it today.”

 

“We could go out if you want. You don't have to make me breakfast just because I made it yesterday.”

 

“I want to. I'm kinda good at taking care of you, ya know.”

 

His head pulled back and he gave her a grin. “Yes you are.”

 

Of course his meaning was far from anything in reference to their friendship or her job as his assistant. She smacked his shoulder, rolling her eyes. “Behave, Mr. Ackles. Come on, do you want eggs or something? Pancakes?”

 

“Pancakes are good.”

 

“Alright then.” She pushed at his shoulder to get him to let her up and he dramatically threw himself off like she'd shoved him. She laughed, Jensen having a very good sense of humor. “Grab a shower and it'll be ready when you get out.”

 

“One of these days, I am going to get you in that shower with me, you know that right?”

 

“Tis not this day!” She announced with an overly dramatic Shakespearean tone, barely managing to dodge the pillow he threw in her direction as he groaned at her antics.

* * *

 

Kate knew she was smiling like a moron as she puttered around Jensen's kitchen to make breakfast but she couldn't help it. If anyone had told her that she'd end up with Jensen, hell, that she'd ever even just kiss the man and he would be the one to initiate? She would have called them delusional. She knew better now. She couldn't deny that there really was something there.

 

They were already intensely close from the last three years of friendship. You spend that much time with someone, it's going to lead to some really strong bonds. They clicked and she remembered the compliment Misha had paid her only a few weeks after she started working as Jared's assistant. She'd brought the older man a hot coffee without him asking for one, that particular night shoot a cold one, even by Canadian standards. He'd told her he was glad she was there because it was obvious that she'd been the unknown missing piece to their demented little family.

 

She was just about to start cooking when there was a distinctive knock at the door. Curious, she moved over to the door and looked through the peephole to see that it was exactly who she thought it was. Jared, clad in his favorite grey beanie and lounging clothes, sipping on a Starbucks concoction with a bag from Tim Hortons being held under what looked like a drink tray from Starbucks. He'd been busy.

 

She opened the door and he gave her a grin. “Good morning starshine. The moose says hello!”

 

She rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile a little. Jared had an uncanny knack at being able to make her smile very easily. That was something that had been there right from the start, the day they met. She'd never had an interview that had caused her to laugh so much. “That's not the lyric.”

 

“Says the woman who only knows the song because it was on the Simpsons.” She stepped aside and he entered, leaving her to close and lock the door behind him.

 

“One of the best episodes, mind you and it was in the Johnny Depp Willy Wonka too.”

 

This time Jared rolled his eyes. “You know I only acknowledge the Gene Wilder movie.” He put down the bag of Tim-bits and the drink tray and rested his back against the counter, crossing his arms. “So did you break the old man like a pretzel or what?”

 

“Oh my god! Jared!” She smacked his arm, mostly for the smirk on his face than his actual words. “He's in the shower. I was just going to start breakfast.”

 

“Well I just saved you from having to do that. And I was kind enough to bring his coffee and bring you one of your fruit smoothie things from the place down the street that you love so much.”

 

She raised a brow. It looked like her favorite drink from Northern Smoothies but she had to be sure. That meant Jared had made three separate stops on his way here. “Caribbean Swizzle?””

 

“Fo' shizzle.”

 

She couldn't help the snort. Yet again, he got her. “Dork.”

 

“Yup. So come on, you two are dating and I don't get love anymore?” He pouted, holding out his arms like a dejected toddler. A very tall dejected toddler.

 

“Oh stop it.” She moved easily into his arms, smiling to herself as she got what she'd always termed in her head as a Jared Special. One thing Jared never did half-assed was affection, whether it was with his family, friends or even the fans. One of her favorite things was seeing the looks of awe on the faces of fans after they got a hug from Jared. “How are you sweetheart?”

 

“I'm better now. Had to get my Kate sugar. How are you? Please tell me you two talked before anything else. With your words?”

 

She giggled, stepping back and hopping up on the barstool as he handed her the oversized cup that had her smoothie, complete with whipped cream and three maraschino cherries. She might be his assistant but she had the boy trained pretty well. “Yes we did, Dad.”

 

He made a face. “Ugh. I hate it when you call me that.” Then his face changed to a playful suggestive one. “You know I prefer when you call me Daddy.” He drew out the word to sound as pervy as possible and even wiggled his eyebrows at her to complete it.

 

“Eww! Jared! Come on!” She smacked him again, only making him grin bigger as he unpacked what seemed like an entire menu from Tim Hortons. It was more than just Timbits, which in the US were just called donut holes. There were entire donuts as well as a couple pastries too. “Bad Moose!”

 

He chuckled. “Oh I see how it is. Jensen gets his head out of his ass and suddenly I'm eww.”

 

“Don't even. You know this whole thing doesn't change anything between you and me.” Plus there was the fact that Jared had been trying to convince her practically since she started working with them that Jensen was attracted to her.

 

“Damn straight. I don't care what you two do, you were mine first.”

 

She groaned. “Jared.”

 

“He might be your boyfriend but you were are still are my work wife. Right?”

 

A sigh. “Yes, dear.”

 

“Good.” He grinned before giving her a loud smacking kiss to the cheek and pushing a napkin of chocolate Timbits, her favorite, to her and arranging a similar napkin for both himself and Jensen.

 

The whole work wife thing was weird but it was kind of nice at the same time. Part of it had come from the fact that at least from behind, she and Gen almost looked like twins. They were the same height and had the same curvy bodies. The only real difference was that Kate was almost glowing in how pale she was whereas Gen had near caramel colored skin and Kate's hair was curly and had much more silver in it than Gen's lighter and straighter brown. Even with that, there'd been more than once instance where she'd been mistaken for Gen and vice versa, including a few times by Jared himself. One particular instance having him fall over himself with a red face in apology for grabbing Kate's butt instead of his wife's. Gen had been on the floor crying in laughter in response to it.

 

Another part of it had it'd origin in a series of nasty tweets from Jensen's ex the same week that she'd had him presented with a divorce petition out of the blue. In them, she'd been more than a little blunt in blaming the end of her marriage on the “unnatural” relationship Jensen had with Jared and Gen and herself. She of course was a moral person and wouldn't be a part of something like that. She'd been mortified and Jensen had been embarrassed and angry but the Padaleckis and Misha had been more than amused. It'd led Gen to insisting that Kate was more than just her husband's assistant, she was also her sister-wife and Jared's “work wife”.

 

It was a little weird, she understood that most assistants didn't have the kind of relationship with their employers that she had with the boys. Nevermind how things had changed with Jensen, they were her boys. They had been almost right from the start.

 

“So you guys are good?” Jared asked finally, taking a long sip of coffee to wash down what was probably the first of many donuts.

 

“Yeah.” She looked up to find him watching her face intently. “Seriously. We talked, yes, with words and we're both interested to see what this could be. He's worried a little about the whole celebrity dating effect because he doesn't want me to be hurt by what strangers can say. Then again, that's kinda been around ever since I started working for you. The fans know who I am just like they know Clif and Chris and everything.”

 

“You don't think that will change now that you two are dating?”

 

She shrugged, munching on a Timbit. “Well there are fans who've pretty much convinced themselves that we've been dating for a while. Fans will believe what they want, you know that. I'm sure I'll get a few angry comments, probably from the tinhatters who think I'm trying to take Jensen away from you.”

 

Jared snorted and rolled his eyes. “And then the ones who don't get the joke behind the work wife thing and think you and I are actually married?”

 

Kate pretended to be shocked. “Wait, joke? But, but, our love is true!”

 

He cracked a smile around his newest donut, finishing the bite before talking. “That it is, Momma, but you know what I'm talking about. Besides, I think it's good that Jensen thought about the potential headaches and stuff.”

 

She nodded. “Yeah. I did too. I mean, the whole dating your assistant thing after the rumors his ex tried to spread? And I'm not exactly without issues myself.”

 

Jared's hand moved to grab hers, her hand all but disappearing in his. “We all have issues.” He moved her hand so his index finger could tap softly against her phoenix tattoo, right in the middle of the anti-possession symbol that made up it's center. “And you are one of the strongest women either he or I know thanks to them. Don't try to sell yourself short, you're tiny enough.”

 

She smiled, taking a sip of her smoothie to ease a bit of tightening to her throat at how sweet he could be, especially when it came to the fight that he was also fighting just as much as she was. “That's true.”

 

“Sweetheart, what did I tell you about letting in strays?”

 

Both she and Jared turned to see Jensen making his way through the living room to where they'd been sitting, freshly showered and dressed, though not shaved. She had a feeling he was going to go without as he usually did during a hiatus.

 

“I'm not a stray! I had my shots!”

 

“You'll get a shot of my foot in your ass.” Jensen quipped. “Ooh donuts!”

 

“And coffee. Jared was kind enough to bring us breakfast including coffee for you and a smoothie for me.” Kate spoke up.

 

“And the hope that he'd walk in and see a little something something, no doubt.” He wrapped his arm around her while grabbing his coffee and taking a long sip.

 

Jared only shrugged. “I figured it was a 50/50 shot.”

 

Kate groaned. “Remind me again why I put up with you two?”

 

“Because you love us and we're cute.” They said in unison, only making her drop her head and groan to their shared amusement.

 


	14. Jensen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to those who've commented and everyone who has been reading this! Please feel free to comment more and I'm always open to suggestions of what you'd like to see!

He only woke up because he felt Kate moving to get out of the bed and he couldn't have that. No, she was going to have to stay because he was so damn comfortable and content with her there. He tightened his grip around her. “Whereyagoin?” He managed, still feeling worn out considering there'd been very little sleep for either of them in the last two nights. “Go back sleep.”

 

“I need to pee. You go back to sleep.” She pressed a kiss to his lips that he returned with a reluctant huff, grabbing her pillow and hugging that to himself. She had to go for the only real good reason that she would have to get out of his bed. Cheater. He felt her adjust the comforter, the new comforter that he'd only bought the day before so it covered him better before he heard the bathroom door close and the water turn on a few minutes later.

 

He was tempted to go back to sleep but he'd rather do that when Kate came back to bed. Thankfully this morning hadn't had her scurrying off to the bathroom in full panic mode and things were more defined between them. He dozed a little, thinking about how he'd enjoyed preparing for their little date at home and how he looked forward to really taking her out. What he was really looking forward to was going home to Texas for the holidays. His mom was going to be over the moon happy. She loved Kate whereas had barely tolerated his ex. That right there should have been a huge warning sign to him.

 

His doze was disturbed by the sound of one of the dresser drawers opening and he watched as Kate matter of factly picked out a pair of his boxers to put on before she put one of his t-shirts from the Alamo Drafthouse over her own tank top. He grinned silently to himself, remembering that she didn't exactly have any underwear at the moment because he'd gone a bit cave man and snapped the delicate straps of her panties last night.

 

“Mmm, it's depressing watching you get dressed but fuck I like seeing you in my clothes.” He murmured. It was the truth. There was just something sexy about seeing her dressed in his clothes and he liked how she knew where his boxers were. Sure, that was partly because she was his assistant but he'd never made an assistant do his laundry. Kate did it without asking or being asked. It was part of taking care of him she'd always said.

 

“You do huh?” She smiled, climbing onto the bed and giving him a kiss. How different this morning was from yesterday morning. He had no problem at all with spending mornings like this from now on, that was for sure. “What do you want for breakfast? My turn this morning.”

 

“Oh I have a few very dirty suggestions.” He said with his best devious smile before grabbing her and twisting them so she was underneath him and went for her neck, making her cling to his shoulders. To be completely honest, he had more than a few ideas but she'd figure that out in a few minutes. Right now he was going to enjoy driving her crazy with some attention to her very sensitive neck, a little tidbit about her he'd happily discovered about her and planned to take advantage of as much as possible.

 

Then his stomach betrayed him and growled like it was possessed or a small pitbull had somehow gotten lost in there. Both he and Kate stopped short and then burst into laughter at the unexpected noise. How could he be this hungry with all the food he ate last night?

 

Of course, there had been rigorous calorie burning activities after. That'd explain it.

 

“I think your stomach won't appreciate your suggestions.” Kate giggled as her small hands stroked his back. He groaned in frustration, collapsing half on her and half on the bed, letting his forehead fall against her shoulder. “Come on, you made me breakfast yesterday, I'll make it today.”

 

“We could go out if you want. You don't have to make me breakfast just because I made it yesterday.”

 

“I want to. I'm kinda good at taking care of you, ya know.”

 

He lifted his head at her conceit. Did she even have an idea of just how good an assistant she was? But more than that, his mind focused on the last two nights and the way the woman in his arms had surprised him more than once with her passion. “Yes you are.”

 

It didn't take very long for her to realize he wasn't talking about her work as his assistant. After three years, she knew that most anything said near him or Jared or Misha could easily be turned into something suggestive. Forget about Rob, he could make the Vatican seem like Vegas. She smacked his shoulder, rolling her eyes. “Behave, Mr. Ackles. Come on, do you want eggs or something? Pancakes?”

 

“Pancakes are good.”

 

“Alright then.” She pushed at his shoulder to get him to let her up and he dramatically threw himself off like she'd shoved him. It was a game that he liked to play with his younger family members but especially with the Padalecki boys to make them laugh. “Grab a shower and it'll be ready when you get out.”

 

“One of these days, I am going to get you in that shower with me, you know that right?” Two mornings out of two and he'd been denied! A few more and he was going to develop some kind of elaborate Criminal Minds worthy complex.

 

“Tis not this day!” She announced with an overly dramatic Shakespearean tone, one hand on her chest, the other raised and pointing to the ceiling like she was on stage or something. He groaned and whipped a pillow at her that she somehow managed to dodge, laughing all the while.

 

He dragged himself out of the bed a few minutes later, his hopes for a lazy day in bed at least temporarily suspended but a smile still on his face. He went into the bathroom to find Kate's folded skirt from the night before on one of the cabinet shelves and that she'd used one of the disposible toothbrushes and tossed it in the little woven bathroom garbage that he'd only bought the day before. Looking at the green plastic handle, he wondered how come she just didn't have a toothbrush here. Strange how he hadn't thought about it before. He wouldn't doubt she had one at Jared's just like they both had ones at her apartment for all the times they'd crashed there.

 

Mulling that over, he turned on the shower and took a look at himself in the mirror before it fogged up. Running his hands over his face, he very briefly thought about shaving but then figured there was no point and besides, he'd shaved yesterday. Checking the water, he got into the shower and let the water run over him for long minutes.

 

Washing his hair, he wondered if he and Kate needed the last three years to get to where they were or if things would have worked out just as well if he'd actually listened to Jared and done something sooner.

 

Holy shit, did he just think that?

 

Washing the shampoo out of his hair, he shook his head to dismiss that thought. Obviously when they first met, he was still married and trying his best at a marriage that probably should have never happened to begin with. Then the divorce papers and the way Kate had been so incredibly supportive. He'd been more hurt by the way it had been done than the actual end of his marriage, not to mention the hateful things his ex had spouted to the media.

 

How ironic that she'd put part of the blame for the end of the marriage at Kate's feet and here they were, little more than two years later. In that two years, he'd really gotten to know her so much better than he'd ever known his ex. Something told him that while at the moment it felt like they'd wasted so much time not acting on what was obviously a shared attraction, they needed that time too. It'd been a slow, exacting build and it made the last two nights mean so much more.

 

Getting out of the shower, he turned off the water and toweled off. In a couple days, they'd be home in Texas and he hoped he'd be spending most of that time with Kate. He'd already gotten her Christmas gift, a state of the art electric violin. And contrary to his usual habit of waiting to the last minute for gifts, he already had her birthday gift planned.

 

He was getting dressed when he could hear voices and realized that Kate wasn't alone in the kitchen and that Jared had come over. No doubt curious at what exactly was going on between two of the people he was closest to in his life next to his immediate family.

 

“How are you sweetheart?” He heard Kate ask as he pulled on his pants. As little as Kate was physically, she had a huge heart and had been a big support to Jared, even on his worst days with his depression. She knew better than most about how bad depression could be and he was proud to say that both he and Jared were pretty good about supporting Kate right back on her own bad days.

 

“I'm better now. Had to get my Kate sugar. How are you? Please tell me you two talked before anything else. With your words?”

 

Kate giggled and in his bedroom, Jensen smirked. Of course Jared would assume that despite all the work that had been done for the date, that they'd just fallen into bed again. “Yes we did, Dad.”

 

Jensen could almost see Jared's scrunched up face at that. Kate made a game of teasing him about acting like a dad when he didn't realize he was doing it. Then again, so did he. As much as Jared could be a very big kid most of the time, there were those moments were he was such a dad it was hilarious. “Ugh. I hate it when you call me that.” A pause “You know I prefer when you call me Daddy.” He drew out the word to sound as pervy as possible and probably even wiggled his eyebrows at her to complete it.

 

He rolled his eyes as Kate cried out, “Eww! Jared! Come on! Bad Moose!”

 

And that was Jared's favorite game, seeing just how easily he could get Kate grossed out. Jensen contemplated shoes and then figured he could put them on later if they actually planned on leaving the house. “Oh I see how it is. Jensen gets his head out of his ass and suddenly I'm eww.”

 

He wanted to protest but it wasn't far from the truth. He had to have had his head up there pretty far to be so clueless as to just how much his feelings for Kate with reciprocated.

 

“Don't even. You know this whole thing doesn't change anything between you and me.” That was true. He'd never want his relationship with Kate to get in the way of the bond she had with Jared just like he wouldn't let it get in the way of his own bond with the goofy man he thought of as a little brother.

 

“Damn straight. I don't care what you two do, you were mine first.”

 

She groaned as she had a tendency to do when he did his pretend possessiveness. “Jared.”

 

“He might be your boyfriend but you were are still are my work wife. Right?”

 

A sigh. “Yes, dear.”

 

“Good.” Jensen grinned as he could hear the “muah” of Jared's kiss to Kate, probably on her cheek. Some might find the whole thing strange but he thought it was very cool just how well Kate got along with Gen. Probably helped make her an even better assistant. Though he was even more amused that somehow Jared had found the one assistant who almost mirrored his wife physically. How did that even work?

 

He made a mental note to tease Gen when they got home to Texas about how his ex had been so right about their “unnatural relationship”. Maybe they could start a pool as to how long it would take his ex to start up new rumors once his new relationship with Kate made it to the media.

 

“So you guys are good?” Jared asked finally as Jensen moved to at least straighten out the bed. He wasn't going to go so far as to make it. If he was lucky, they'd end up either back here or at Kate's apartment later so there was no point.

 

He nodded to himself as Kate gave a very abridged version of what they'd talked about when it came to his concerns about what it was like to date a celebrity, nevermind the actor that was your boss. He was glad he'd been able to convince her that his concerns did not mean he didn't want to try, he was just worried she'd be hurt. The last thing he wanted was to be the reason for her tears.

 

“Well there are fans who've pretty much convinced themselves that we've been dating for a while. Fans will believe what they want, you know that. I'm sure I'll get a few angry comments, probably from the tinhatters who think I'm trying to take Jensen away from you.”

 

Oh good god. Jensen sighed. He hadn't even thought about that.

 

“And then the ones who don't get the joke behind the work wife thing and think you and I are actually married?” That was the more amusing conspiracy theory of their more unique fans. He'd seen more than one try to use pictures of Kate with Jared as proof that they were actually a couple. The fact that he'd had an apartment built for her above his garage in Texas was only fuel to the fire. He assumed most of these fans had actually believed his ex's accusations about some weird orgy relationship going on. Or at least were hopeful for it.

 

Like clockwork, Kate pretended to be shocked. “Wait, joke? But, but, our love is true!”

 

Jensen snickered, heading to leave the bedroom. That was one of the reasons Kate had fit in with them so well and so fast. She had a great sense of humor and was quick as a whip. Plus in terms of pranking, she was pretty damned good at surprising most anyone. She'd even gotten himself a few times and Jared too. Not an easy task.

 

When Kate brought up her issues, like they were some huge immovable obstacle to her finding happiness, his heart broke a little. It just reminded him that for someone with depression and anxiety, some things were always there, even in the face of happy events. He knew she'd always have that little voice questioning why things were going so well. He remembered how nervous and hesitant she'd been when she first started working for Jared, not wanting to overstep her bounds or make anything close to a presumption.

 

“And you are one of the strongest women either he or I know thanks to them. Don't try to sell yourself short, you're tiny enough.”

 

And that was his cue to step into the living room, seeing that the pair were seated at his kitchen counter where the plan for breakfast had been hijacked by Jared bringing Tim Hortons and coffee. Hopefully he brought those ones with the strawberry glaze and some chocolate Timbits.

 

“Sweetheart, what did I tell you about letting in strays?”

 

“I'm not a stray! I had my shots!” Jared pretended to be put out and indignant.

 

“You'll get a shot of my foot in your ass.” He quipped just before he saw how many donuts his costar and best friend had brought for breakfast. Of course it looked like a ton but between the two of them, they could put away a fair bit and Kate wasn't shy about her love for baked goods. That was something he'd liked right from the start. “Ooh donuts!”

 

“And coffee. Jared was kind enough to bring us breakfast including coffee for you and a smoothie for me.” Kate spoke up, indicating her drink from the place down the street. He was pretty sure that they always had one ready and in the fridge in the mornings since she was pretty regular about getting one on her way whenever she picked him up to go to set. Those mornings were usually after late nights shooting when Kate didn't want either himself or Jared driving exhausted.

 

Like she'd said before his shower, she was pretty good at taking care of him.

 

“And the hope that he'd walk in and see a little something something, no doubt.” He wrapped his arm around her while grabbing his coffee and taking a long sip. Just what he needed considering the lack of sleep he'd been having lately between the last couple weeks of shooting and well, the last couple nights with Kate.

 

Not that he was complaining.

 

Jared only shrugged. “I figured it was a 50/50 shot.”

 

Kate groaned. “Remind me again why I put up with you two?”

 

“Because you love us and we're cute.” They said in unison, only making her drop her head and groan to their shared amusement. It was a regular answer to the usual question, a question that was often asked of them since Kate started working for Jared.

 

Jensen shared a grin with Jared before leaning down to press a kiss to the bit of Kate's shoulder exposed by the t-shirt she'd confiscated from his dresser before he moved to take his own seat and grab some donuts of his own. “So what's going on man? Appreciate the breakfast delivery.”

 

“I was awake and figured why not. Plus I wasn't sure how plans have changed for heading home since you two and thought I'd stop by and find out what was going on.”

 

Kate raised her head at the sound of something work related. Even though it was about going home, which was time off for both actors, she always said that she was always working unless she was asleep. And sometimes even then, especially if one of them was using her lap as a pillow, which was a pretty regular occurrence. “I don't think anything's changed. I mean, you guys head home in two days and I'll follow like I always do after I take care of the stuff in your apartments with making sure everything is off and any perishables are handled. Right?”  
  


Normally that would have been alright. With his ex gone, there was more freedom to spend time with his parents and siblings and then of course there was Christmas morning and day spent with both his family and Jared's. Now though, he didn't really want to have those couple days away from Kate as she drove down from Vancouver as she tended to do when there was the winter or summer hiatus. Despite the fact that she had full access to any and all vehicles belonging to himself or Jared, she preferred her own car and claimed she enjoyed the drive from Vancouver and then back.

 

“Actually, maybe we could switch things up a bit. If you want.” He spoke up after swallowing the Timbit he'd grabbed, taking a sip of his coffee to wash it down. “It's not too late to cancel my flight, right? I mean, that is if you don't mind having some company for your usual drive down home.”

 

Kate's eyes widened a little. She hadn't expected him to want to forgo the few hours of flight for a two day drive that he'd done several times before just giving in and flying most of the time. “I don't think it'd be a problem but don't you want to get home and see your parents and everything? You don't want to use up two days of your winter break in a car.”

 

Jensen saw Jared hide a smile from behind his coffee. Modest to a fault and new at relationships, that was their Kate. “Sweetheart, it'd be with you. That sounds like a good time to me. Maybe you could show me some of the historical stuff you always tell the boys about when you do the drive.”

 

Just because Kate was a personal assistant now didn't make her any less of a historian or a teacher, especially when it came to Jared's boys. Thanks to her efforts working with Gen, both were reading in advance of their ages, something she took great pride in. Any chance she had to teach them something, be it about reading or history or basic knowledge, she was quick to act. It was something he enjoyed as he knew Jared did too.

 

“Really? I figured you'd want to be able to get some sleep. Maybe get out on the lake and stuff.”

 

“I can do all that and spend time with my girl too.” He said with confidence. “I'm Batman.”

 

That earned him not one, but two rolls of the eyes from both Kate and Jared.

 


	15. Kate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap, it's been so long since I last updated. I'm sorry to say that writer's block is a bitch. This chapter is very tiny and skips stuff that I'd originally planned on going into detail on but sometimes instead of fighting the block, you gotta go around it.
> 
> Just a reminder...this was written before little Odette was born and for the sake of this story, she was born earlier and not named Odette. K? Thanks.

Kate turned off the water to the motel shower, the only sounds in the bathroom now that of the remaining water going down the drain and in her imagination, the sound of water running off her own body. She stood there for a moment, letting gravity do it's work and breathing in the humid air of the small bathroom before she reached out and grabbed a towel to wrap around herself. This wasn't a five star hotel by any stretch but it wasn't a dump either, the towels were actually large enough to be useful.

 

Stepping out of the shower, she reached out with a hand to wipe some of the condensation from the mirror, a mirror that had probably seen a lot more than she ever wanted to contemplate. Of course, in her minds eye, she could still see it's most recent “memory”, involving Jensen and herself.

 

He'd been curious by the way she'd insisted on not staying somewhere fancy within San Diego itself but rather some regular motel outside of the city. Not quite as anonymous as a motel that one might see on Supernatural, but not exactly one that would have a concierge or room service. She'd explained that staying in a big hotel took away from the road trip feel and besides, she always did her research to make sure she didn't stay anywhere creepy.

 

They'd gotten into the room and he'd laughed, joking that somehow they'd ended up back on set and any minute now, Jared would come busting in. She'd quipped back that he'd better not or he'd probably get an eyeful of something that would scar him for the rest of his life.

 

“Oh that challenge is so accepted. I'm still going to therapy for shit he pulled in the first season.” With that, he grabbed her hand and yanked her toward the attached bathroom. “Let's see if this bathroom earns the Ackles seal of approval.”

 

The bathroom didn't of course. It wasn't a bad bathroom but it consisted of a very small tub and shower combo that earned Jensen's mock ire after stepping into it with her fully clothed and finding that it was not what he was hoping for.

 

Of course, the counter-space of the bathroom met his approval in that for some reason it wasn't the traditional two sinks up against one wall with a mirror. No, this one was set to the corner with just one sink facing the mirror and then just counter space perpendicular to that.

 

She'd barely seen the smile take his lips before she found herself being lifted up on to the empty counter space, his strong hands yanking her forward as her legs parted around him. “Well, there is one perk to this bathroom.” He murmured against her lips before he turned his head to face the mirror and making her realize that the way the counter was set up had them within full view of it.

 

Now as she stood in the still humid bathroom, she found herself hyperaware of the moment. Not of christening that counter with Jensen, the surrealness of watching him, of watching them together in the mirror. No, it was more than that. It was of being very in the moment. Of seeing herself as she stood there, wrapped in the motel towel, her hair wet and dripping. Of the memory of Jensen offering to go get food and bring it back and the way it'd taken him more than a few minutes of kisses before he actually left the bathroom. Of how this particular drive to Texas was so distinctive even though she'd done the drive with both Jared and Jensen before.

 

Hearing the room door open, she shook herself mentally, realizing that between the shower and standing there lost in her thoughts, more time had passed than she thought.

 

“Baby?”

 

She flashed a grin to her mirror self at the sound of the pet name. She really liked him calling her that. “I'm right here.” She called back before grabbing a towel to wrap her hair in before turning and opening the bathroom door. Jensen had his back to her and was setting down what looked like a six pack of soda, something else in a plain plastic bag and a good sized bag of food from some place called “Hoppie's”.

 

He turned and took a moment to look her up and down before smiling, almost to himself. “I cannot wait till we go to Hawaii and I get you on the beach in a bikini.”

 

She felt her cheeks warm which was strange because he'd seen her naked more than once, why should she be blushing? Was it his wistful tone? “In your dreams, sweetheart.” It was one thing for him to see her naked, it was another for the public to see her in a bikini.

 

“Every night and twice on Sundays. Come on, I'm sure we can get Jared to do it too if you want.”

 

The image flashed into her brain and she groaned, squeezing her eyes shut and putting the heels of her hands to them. “Oh come on! I don't need that image in my head. Dammit Jensen! Bad llama!”

 

“You opened the door, I just walked through it sweetheart.” He chuckled. “How long of a shower did you take anyway?”

 

“Longer than I thought I guess. What'd you get for dinner?”

 

“You wanted burgers and fries, so I got burgers and fries. I would have gotten milkshakes too but they claimed the machine was broken or something. So I stopped at the convenience store and got ice cream and root beer for floats.”

 

It was then she noticed the plain bag he was unpacking had held small tubs of vanilla ice cream and that the soda was indeed A & W Root Beer. “You are going to spoil me, sir.” She took a step over and hugged him from behind, resting her face against his warm back. She thrilled in being able to just touch him the way she wanted now instead of having to weigh each and every instinct with how it might look. “Thank you.”

 

“I like spoiling you. Especially with something so simple. Not many people appreciate the small things.” His hand covered hers resting on his chest. “Go on, get dressed. I don't want to be tempted during dinner and miss out on these epic looking burgers.”

 

She laughed as she let him go but not before giving his ass a good pinch. “Yes dear.”

* * *

 

A few minutes later found her dressed in of all things, one of his tshirts and a pair of shorts, seated at the table of their room while Jensen worked at making their root beer floats and she set out the food. This Hoppie's place did not skimp when it came to making their burgers something memorable, each one being rather large and elaborate looking. Then there was the massive amount of fries too.

 

“Fuck that's a big burger.” Jensen said with an impressed tone. “We're going to be in food comas after this.”

 

“Food comas are awesome.” She said happily as he handed her a rather massive looking ice cream float.

 

He laughed and shook his head.

* * *

 

Kate quietly snuck out of the car as Jensen greeted the Padaleckis, the boys curious as to where she was because he'd been driving her car after all. It was actually something their father had come up with, to have it look like Jensen was by himself and then have Kate surprise the boys. She waited as long as she could before she moved around the car to where the group of people were. There was no reason to prolong the prank on Tom and Shep any longer than necessary.

 

“Oh and look at Mr. I Want All the Attention!” Kate cried out, rather impressed with herself that she hadn't accidentally ruined the prank by slamming the car door out of instinct or moving too quick.

 

“KAAAAATE!!!” Both boys cried out, running for her as fast as their little legs could.

 

“Boys!” She said with a grin, smart to kneel down before she was knocked over anyway by the over exuberance that both Padalecki boys got from their father. She let out a laughing oof as both boys thought nothing of just tackling her anyway in their happiness. Thank Chuck they were still little and weren't as big as their father. Yet anyway. She was sure they'd both be towering over her and Gen in no time. “Did you miss me or something?”

 

“YES!” They both said laughing.

 

Then she heard Jensen, who'd gone right for the littlest Padalecki, say “Wanna get in on the action Jenna? Work on your piledriver?”

 

The boys turned as their uncle came over with their sister in his arms, not thinking anything of laying in the driveway with her.

 

Jared did the announcing while Gen continued to record the reunion. “And here comes Lady Padalecki with her signature move, the Baby Buster!” Jensen made it so Jenna's chubby little legs were straight and her little feet “collided” with Kate's chest. As she “fell back”, Kate's arm went firmly around the baby, allowing Jensen to let go of her safely. “And another one hits the dust! Can anyone defeat this little lady?”

 

Jenna, who had no idea what was going on, apparently was having a great time anyway and let out one of her little baby laughs that almost mirrored her mother's before she grabbed at Kate's face in happiness.

 

“Hi sweetheart! You got me! Little Miss Secret Weapon you are!”

 

“Okay, are we going to spend all our time laying in the driveway or are we going to have some ice cream?” Gen announced, stepping up to be the actual adult compared to the rest, as always.

 

“ICE CREAM!!!” The boys shouted together before throwing themselves bodily toward the house, “racing” their Uncle Jensen to the frozen treat.

 

“Funny, I use that trick on set all the time.” Kate joked, sitting up with little Jenna. “That's a good way to trick your daddy, remember that.”

 

“Don't teach her evil ways of controlling me yet!” Jared laughed, reaching down with a hand to help her up. “You guys have a good drive down?”

 

“Yeah we did. It was fun.” She hugged the younger but much taller actor before turning to his wife. “Hi Gen.”

 

“Hi Gen? Come on, I had to practically waterboard him to find out what was going on with you and Jensen! I want details! Why didn't you call me!?”

 

Kate sighed. “Your daddy crumples like a wet paper bag, Miss Jenna. Remember that.”

 

 


	16. Jensen

 

Jensen closed the motel room door behind him, making sure that it was locked before he actually left to go get dinner. Kate was taking a shower and he might be paranoid but considering they weren't exactly at the Ritz, it paid to be cautious. He let out a breath and headed toward her SUV that had a bumper sticker that read “My other car is a '67 Impala” and had the devil's trap symbol after it.

 

Their little impromptu roadtrip back home to Texas was something he was thoroughly enjoying, especially now that he didn't have to control himself as much around Kate. It was sappy as fuck, but he liked being able to really hold her hand and being able to kiss her without reservation was the best.

 

That made him grin as he unlocked the vehicle and got in, groaning as he adjusted the seat from practically being on top of the steering wheel to where he could actually drive. He'd gone along with Kate's little quirk about not staying at a high end hotel in San Deigo even though he would have liked something overlooking the Bay and not something that looked like it was a set on the show. He'd made the most of it though, for her and he'd been most rewarded by that uniquely designed bathroom. The shower stall was made for munchkins but that counter set up was damn near perfect by his standards.

 

He wondered if he would ever get his fill of her, now that he could go beyond just imagining what it would be like to be with his shared assistant. She was passionate but sweet at the same time and he was pretty sure she'd be the death of him.

 

What a way to go.

 

After they'd christened the bathroom counter, both of them had commented on being hungry so he'd volunteered to go out and get something to eat so she could relax and shower. He would have liked to have shared that shower but that wasn't going to happen, even with how tiny Kate was. Just the same, it'd taken several minutes of kisses before he managed to drag himself out of that bathroom and away from the woman who'd quickly come to rule his world.

 

Pulling out of the motel parking lot, he made his way back toward San Diego, keeping his eye out for any restaurants or billboards advertising places that made great burgers. He was hungry as hell and he had a feeling Kate was too. Hopefully he could find a place that had both decent burgers and milkshakes.

* * *

 

 

He got back to the motel and managed to close the door behind him when he realized not only did he not see Kate in the actual room but that the shower wasn't running either. Where was she? “Baby?” He called out. He had had the car, so where could she have gone?

 

“I'm right here!” She called from the bathroom and he let out a soft breath of relief that he didn't even realize he'd been holding. The bathroom door opened just as he was putting down the soda and ice cream he'd gotten from a local convenience store and the mammoth bag of food from Hoppie's.

 

He turned and felt his heart skip a little at the sight of her, still wrapped in a large white towel, another wrapped around her head like a turban for her hair. Was he ever going to get used to the simple things with her, like seeing her post shower? She was beautiful and looked very relaxed, something he was adamant on not giving the shower all the credit for. Just the same, it made him think of the convention they had coming up right after Christmas that would have them in Hawaii for the New Year. “I cannot wait till we go to Hawaii and I get you on the beach in a bikini.”

 

Her cheeks pinked a little and she shook her head. “In your dreams, sweetheart.”

 

“Every night and twice on Sundays. Come on, I'm sure we can get Jared to do it too if you want.” There was her rotten self esteem showing again. The scary thing was, Jared actually would go that far to encourage Kate or just to make her laugh and see that it wasn't that big a deal. Or just to give the rest of them nightmares. No question Misha would do it and then tweet a picture to show off.

 

Kate groaned, squeezing her eyes shut and putting the heels of her hands to them. “Oh come on! I don't need that image in my head. Dammit Jensen! Bad llama!”

 

“You opened the door, I just walked through it sweetheart.” He chuckled. It was a bit of a game on set to see how quickly an innocent comment could be twisted into something completely different. “How long of a shower did you take anyway?” He'd probably been gone about a half hour at least. Then again he was known for lingering in the shower when he actually could.

 

“Longer than I thought I guess. What'd you get for dinner?”

 

“You wanted burgers and fries, so I got burgers and fries. I would have gotten milkshakes too but they claimed the machine was broken or something. So I stopped at the convenience store and got ice cream and root beer for floats.” He started unpacking the plain bag and took out the ice cream that he'd finally decided on rather than wasting time on trying to find an ice cream place that was open.

 

“You are going to spoil me, sir.” Her arms wrapped around him from behind and he felt her rest her head against his back while her hands rested on his chest. It was a moment that he knew would be one he would remember just for the simple joy of it. “Thank you.”

 

“I like spoiling you. Especially with something so simple. Not many people appreciate the small things.” His hand covered hers resting on his chest, his mind annoyingly bringing up memories of his ex and her never ending demands to go to fancy eateries instead of relaxing at home. She wanted to be seen with him, not be with him. Mentally he shook the thoughts of that harpy from his mind and focused on the one wrapped around him in pure affection. “Go on, get dressed. I don't want to be tempted during dinner and miss out on these epic looking burgers.”

 

She laughed as she let him go but not before giving his ass a good pinch. “Yes dear.”

 

Yeah, she was definitely going to be the death of him.

 

* * *

 

She'd dressed quickly, choosing one of his shirts and putting on a pair of her own shorts and somehow making it look sexier than if she was wearing an evening gown. While she sat down at the table of the room, he worked at making their root beer floats as best he could with the plastic tumblrs he'd found in the same store as the ice cream. It was awkward as fuck and he wished that Hoppie's had just had a working machine but he did the best he could while Kate set out the actual meal.

 

After Kate placed the burgers that were nearly as big as her head on their respective plates along with generous portions of fries, he commented, “Fuck that's a big burger. We're going to be in food comas after this.” The place had touted about giving the customer their money's worth but that burger was probably worth twice as much as he had paid.

 

“Food comas are awesome.” She said happily as he handed her the larger of the ice cream floats.

 

He laughed and shook his head. That was his girl.

* * *

 

Jensen got out of the car, trying not to give away to the two confused looking Padalecki boys that Kate was actually crouched down in the car hiding so they would think she wasn't there. Jared had thought it would be hilarious to prank them. That was a shocker.

 

“Hey guys!”

 

The boys rushed over to him, giving him hugs and greeting him as they always did, calling him Unca Jensen which still made his day. Their father greeted him next, bear hugging him for no reason other than he could even though he'd just seen him a couple days ago.

 

“Genevieve, sweetheart, you need to stop getting more beautiful. Jared's gonna get a complex.”

 

Gen smiled and shook her head, little Jenna in her arms as she gave him a one armed hug and accepted a kiss on the cheek. “Whatever you want Jensen, the answer is no.”

 

He laughed, loving that his best friend had found a woman with such a quick wit. “And there's my little lady. Hi Jenna. How's my girl?”

 

The baby cooed at him and did what the boys had done when they were her age which was to try and bodily throw herself at him while still being held by her mother. Thankfully she was experienced with it and the youngest Padalecki didn't succeed in her attempt to fly. He took the baby in his arms, giving her kisses to make her giggle.

 

“Unca Jensen, where's Aunt Kate? That's her car.”

 

“Funny you should ask that, Mr. Tom.” He began, trying not to look back at the car as he'd hoped Kate would be able to get out the car without the boys noticing to make the prank work. He'd parked so the passenger side would be facing away and as long as she didn't close the door after herself, things should work.

 

Just then, Kate's voice rang out from behind them. “Oh and look at Mr. I Want All the Attention!”

 

“KAAAAATE!!!” Both boys cried out, immediately running for the woman who'd begun as their father's assistant but had quickly become an honorary Padalecki and their Aunt Kate. He still remembered the first time Tom had said I love you Aunt Kate. Kate's eyes had widened and he'd thought she was going to cry at the boy's innocent declaration. She'd told him she loved him too and hugged him, blinking back the bit of emotion. Both he and Jared knew that it meant everything to her to be brought into their nonconventional family after being alone for so long.

 

“Boys!” She said with a grin, smart to kneel down before she was knocked over anyway by the excited boys that were like small clones of their father in personality. Mostly that was. He had a feeling Shep was going to take after Gen. “Did you miss me or something?”

 

“YES!” They both said laughing, thinking nothing of having tackled to to the ground of the driveway.

 

Jensen got an idea with little Jenna in his arms and spoke to the toddler a bit louder than he normally would so the three that were all but laying in the driveway would hear him clearly. “Wanna get in on the action Jenna? Work on your piledriver?”

 

The boys turned as he made his way over with their sister, while Jared did the announcing and Gen continued to record the reunion on her phone. These kids were going to have their whole lives fully documented if she had anything to say about it. “And here comes Lady Padalecki with her signature move, the Baby Buster!” Jensen made it so Jenna's chubby little legs were straight and her little feet “collided” with Kate's chest. As she “fell back”, Kate's arm went firmly around the baby, allowing Jensen to let go of her safely. “And another one hits the dust! Can anyone defeat this little lady?”

 

Jenna, who had no idea what was going on, apparently was having a great time anyway and let out one of her little baby laughs that almost mirrored her mother's before she grabbed at Kate's face in happiness. The woman that held her was just as happy, proceeding to do just what he did, which was to give the youngest of the group many kisses to make her giggle more.

 

“Hi sweetheart! You got me! Little Miss Secret Weapon you are!”

 

“Okay, are we going to spend all our time laying in the driveway or are we going to have some ice cream?” Gen announced, knowing that if it was up to him or her husband or her boys, they'd end up out in the driveway all night and Kate would be out there too just to keep them from getting in more trouble than they could handle.

 

“ICE CREAM!!!” The boys shouted together before throwing themselves bodily toward the house, Jensen immediately pretending to “race” them with their father close behind and the ladies bringing up the rear.

 

It was good to be home.

 


	17. Kate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long for an update but that writer's block is pretty damned ironclad. That said, here's a new chapter. Please remember that I started this before little Odette was born and for the sake of the story, the Lady Padalecki was born earlier and named Jenna. Eventually (maybe) you'll see why.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

Kate sighed as the toilet flushed, one hand on the wall as she slowly straightened as best she could before shuffling to the sink to wash her mouth out and splash some water on her face. This was not how she wanted to spend the Christmas break in Texas, let alone the first real break from set that she and Jensen would have as a couple.

 

She'd been sick for three days with a very nasty stomach virus that had hit her like a ton of bricks. She'd always been the kind of person who rarely got sick but when she did, it was World War 4. It didn't help that she'd gotten her monthly visitor that she not so affectionally referred to as Shark Week at the same time. It had been a very long time since she'd had a stomach flu let alone one that had the doctor she'd relented to seeing to the day before encouraging her to be admitted to the hospital.

 

Yeah that hadn't been her best moment. She'd insisted that she could take care of herself even though both Jared and Gen had insisted she come into the main house and stay with them so they could take care of her. The last thing she wanted though was to get them or the boys sick but even more, the worst thing would be if little baby Jenna got sick. Even with every precaution, there was a chance and she would be damned if she got Jenna sick.

 

She'd made the attempt to keep Jensen away, not wanting him to get sick either but he'd pulled a Dean Winchester and told her on no uncertain terms that he was going to take care of her. He did give in to her one request of not sleeping in the same bed though she knew he didn't like it. He really hadn't liked it the day before when she'd refused to go to the hospital like the doctor had recommended. She knew he wasn't angry at her he was more worried than anything but she could tell he was probably ranting in his head about how stubborn she was being.

 

Another difficult night later and here she was, throwing up what little she'd had in her stomach. So far it had been three days of pretty much everything making an emergency exit one way or another and it was exhausting. She was doing as the doctor said though it was difficult with how quickly things were leaving and the nausea. One good thing about seeing the doctor was that she'd gotten a perscription for nausea meds, the same strong ones her brother had been on during chemo and they helped quite a bit. Plus the intravenous saline he'd given her when he'd arrived at the apartment for her dehydration had made a big impact. Now if the damn germ or whatever in her system would just leave, she'd be fine. Christmas was in 3 days and she really didn't want to miss out. Not that she actually had a reason now to celebrate the holidays since she'd started working for Jared and then for Jensen.

 

Toweling off her face, she shuffled toward the kitchen to get a bottle of ginger ale while she was up and then she planned on going back to bed. This thing was knocking her on her ass but it didn't help that she was still dealing with the exhaustion of Shark Week but thankfully the cramps had ended. The sound of her fridge closing caught her ear and she sighed to herself before calling out. “Jared I swear to Chuck that better not be you because once I'm better I will kick your ass.” Jared had a huge heart but he was also one of those people who could get sick at the drop of a hat and she was proud of the fact that he hadn't been sick except one time since she was his assistant. No need to break that record.

 

“It's your boyfriend, not your husband. It's cool.” Jensen's voice called back.

 

She rolled her eyes. Of course Jensen would still refer to Jared as her husband to keep with the long running joke, even now that they were a couple. She made her way to the main part of her apartment that was an open kitchen and living room. Her first Christmas in Texas had resulted in this apartment as a gift from Jared. How he and Gen had managed to keep it quiet was amazing. It wasn't a huge apartment but it was perfect for her. Close to the family that she worked for and yet gave her some privacy when she needed it.

 

Jensen had his back to her and was unpacking bags of what looked like groceries and lots of Powerade, ginger ale and water. He turned and his eyes went soft at the sight of her. She had to look like a walking garbage fire but right then she didn't care. She just wanted to get off her feet. “Hey baby. I'm guessing things still aren't staying down?”

 

She sighed, the counter where her ginger ale was looked so far away. Her legs were aching from the amount of time she was spending on the throne and kneeling in front of it trying not to throw up. “No, they aren't.”

 

“Come on, sit down before you fall down.” He made his way over and ushered her into the plush recliner that he had given her as an apartment warming gift that first Christmas. He covered her legs with the afghan his grandmother had made for her last year and gently reclined it just enough so her legs were out. He touched his hand to her forehead and cheeks and sighed. “Clammy girl. Do you feel like you are going to pass out again?”

 

What had prompted her finally giving in to the doctor visiting the day before had been a very close call where her vision had grayed and she probably would have passed out in the hallway heading toward the bedroom if Jensen hadn't been right there to catch her. “No, I'm okay. Just tired. Can I have some ginger ale?”

 

“Of course darlin'. Stay here. Wanna try some crackers or toast?” He moved quick to grab a bottle of ginger ale, snapping it off it's ring for her.

 

“Not right now. I want to wait a little before I try.” She couldn't help but smile a little as he even went so far as to open the bottle for her so she wouldn't have to make the effort. “Thank you.”

 

He nodded, sitting on the arm of the sofa that was at a right angle with the recliner. “Are you feeling any better? Even with the meds?”

 

She shrugged. “The nausea pills help. Just gotta give the antibiotics time. I'm sure it doesn't help that they probably don't get 100% in my system before I end up throwing up or something.”

 

“We can still go to the hospital and you can get an IV of medication plus saline, Kate. Say the word and we're there.”

 

“Sweetheart, no. I don't want to go to the hospital. I'll be fine. I've been sick like this before and been by myself and been fine. I don't need a hospital.”

 

He sighed, running his hand through his hair before moving to sit on the couch that he'd slept on the last two nights in his effort to take care of her. “You aren't alone anymore and it's killing me to see you so sick. I know you hate hospitals and they bring back a lot of bad memories. I just want you to get better.”

 

“I know. I know.” She knew it was ridiculous to not want to go to the hospital because of all the times she'd spent with her brother when he was sick and dying but she couldn't help it.

 

They sat there for a bit in the quiet before Jensen got up. “I almost forgot, the boys made you something to help you feel better.” He grabbed what looked like oversized construction paper cards off the counter. “And by boys I mean Tom, Shep and their father. Though I can't tell which one is Jared's.”

 

He handed her the cards and she was touched by the hearts and stars around Gen's carefully printed “Get Well Soon! We love you Kate!” as well as the stick figure family in the card that was Tom's that included her along with Jensen and a very tall Jared. A scribble on one card was explained with Gen's print “Jenna says she hopes you feel better soon too.”

 

“Aww, this is great. I'm gonna keep these forever.” She rested her head against the back of the recliner, very thankful for Jensen's great taste in furniture at the time. “I feel bad keeping them away but I don't want them to be sick for Christmas or at all. You are still feeling okay, right?”

 

He nodded, having returned to his seat on the couch. “I'm fine. I haven't been sick in three years thanks to you. Jared either.”

 

“And I want to keep it that way.” She was so tired. Couldn't she just be better so she could actually enjoy the holidays? The closest she'd been to the Padaleckis in the last couple days had been pictures and Skype even though they were just yards away.

 

“Do you want to stay out here or do you want to go back to bed?” Jensen asked, his eyes watching her cautiously to no doubt see what she would say verses what he was observing.

 

“I'll stay out here for a bit. I'm comfortable for now.” Plus she felt like she'd been pushing him away. If she stayed out here at least they could be together.

 

“Want to watch Netflix or something?”

 

“Yeah, that sounds good. You pick. I might fall asleep.”

 

“Okay. Something loud with lots of explosions.” He gave her a wink and grabbed the remote.

 

* * *

 

Kate sat down on the sofa with little Jenna sitting in her lap, turning off the lamp next to the couch so the only light was the rather large Christmas tree in the Padalecki living room. She'd finally gotten over the flu though she still felt pretty weak and tender but it had been two whole days since she'd thrown up and she was finally able to not be afraid to eat something more than a bit of toast.

 

That said she was pretty sure she wasn't contagious anymore, if she was to begin with. Being Christmas Eve, the combined “Padackles” clan were going to church for midnight service and since she was very very far from religious, she'd volunteered, like she had the previous two to stay home. The last two years, she'd had Shep for company but this year it was girl's night with little Jenna. Shep apparently was a big boy now that he was a big brother and was insisting he was old enough to go with everyone else.

 

She kind of liked having this evening to herself. She'd do the same thing she did last year and the year before with Shep and watch what she herself had watched as a child. Rudolph and then the Grinch, the animated Boris Karloff version thank you very much. Even when she didn't do Christmas after her brother died, she still watched those. And she even got to watching the Shrek Christmas, mostly for the Puss in Boots portion of the story.

 

“You ready Miss Jenna? We're gonna watch Rudolph!”

 

The baby gurgled her reply, clapping her pudgy hands together thanks to Kate's tone of voice more than anything.

 

“That's right, I used to watch this when I was your age and so did your Uncle Jensen and your daddy and your mommy.” She grabbed the remote and had timed it perfectly so the old time CBS special logo showed and then the Rankin Bass introduction. She remembered being a kid and being so excited when that played. Then, if you missed it you had to wait a whole year. Kids now were spoiled with having it available on DVD. She settled back on the couch with the baby and smiled, knowing somewhere in the universe, Eddie was happy that she was introducing another child to an old family tradition. “Look Jenna, see the snowman?”

 

* * *

 

“Kate? Come on baby. Time to go to bed so Santa can show up.”

 

Kate was confused before she opened her eyes to find Jensen sitting at her hip, the lights from the Christmas tree playing off his skin. “Huh? Where's Jenna?”

 

“Gen took her about 10 minutes ago. You two partied pretty hard huh? We came back and you two were out for the count. Did you do what you planned?”

 

She yawned, covering her mouth with one hand and stretched. “Yeah. We watched Rudolph and she liked Yukon Cornelius.”

 

“A woman of taste. And the Grinch?”

 

She nodded. “Yep. She was nodding off a little but she's a baby so it's forgivable. How was church?”

 

“It was church. The boys behaved though Shep fell asleep before service was over.” He stood up and helped her to standing before wrapping his arms around her. “So now that you are feeling better, can I please share the bed with my girl again? I sent a letter to Santa and everything.”

 

She laughed, hugging him back. “Yeah I think it's safe. Gotta set the alarm so we can get the presents over here before the boys wake up.” Her apartment was Gen's secret hiding spot for her children's presents, the one place they couldn't get to that was much easier than the attic or the basement. “Do you have Jared's presents?”

 

“Yep. In the back of my truck, covered with the blanket. We're good.”

 


	18. Jensen

Jensen sighed as he stood in the kitchen area of Kate's apartment at Jared's, hearing the toilet flush down the hall. She'd been dozing when he'd left to go get some supplies for her and he guessed that the bit she'd tried to eat earlier hadn't stayed. He'd heard the now familiar sound of her retching when he'd gotten back and as much as he'd wanted to help in some way, he knew it bothered her to have him see her like that.

 

It just figured that their first Christmas as a couple and she had to be so sick. To be honest, he was pretty sure she should be in the hospital since that was what the doctor had said the day before. She'd nearly passed out and he'd almost just picked her up to take her no matter what she said but then he remembered the area doctor that was willing to do housecalls for a slightly higher fee. If she wasn't willing to go to the hospital, he was willing to pay the extra to get her looked at.

 

He hated to see her so weak and miserable when she was normally so strong and vibrant. Thanks to her mothering, he couldn't remember the last time he was sick further than maybe a stress headache or a hangover and he was sure it was the same for Jared. Kate wasn't one to get sick often herself but when she did, it was like the apocalypse or something close. It didn't help that her monthly had hit at the same time. She'd been adorable in her embarrassment when he'd brought over a heating pad of Gen's for her cramps. He had a sister and a mom, not to mention he had been married, it wasn't like he didn't know what a period was.

 

He heard the water turn on, Kate no doubt washing her face and rinsing her mouth. Poor thing had to be exhausted. Both Gen and Jared had wanted her in the main house so they could take care of her themselves but she'd been stubborn about not wanting to potentially get them sick or the kids. She had even insisted they stay away from the apartment but he'd put his foot down in turn. She wasn't going to suffer alone and it was a good thing too, considering how she'd nearly passed out. That had had Jared wanting to force her to go to the hospital too but Gen had talked him down from that.

 

So here he was trying to take care of her as best he could which he was sure was a fraction of what she did to take care of both him and Jared as their assistant. He'd been doing most everything he could to try and help her recover and be as comfortable as possible. He was trying to keep her hydrated since the flu was having her not be able to keep anything down. The saline IV the doctor had given her yesterday had been a big help and hopefully the medications would help keep some stuff down too.

 

This was not what he'd been looking forward to when they'd been on their roadtrip from Vancouver. They hadn't even gotten to go out on his boat before she got sick a few days earlier. And being Kate, all she could say was that she was glad that whatever germ or virus it was that it had only gotten her and not both of them.

 

He was exhausted both physically and emotionally. He'd sleep when she did but what sleep she managed wasn't very fulfilling and he was getting to be an expert at springing off the couch to help her get to the bathroom in time. That was something what was difficult too, that to keep him from potentially “getting her cooties” as she termed it, Kate had insisted he not sleep in the same bed at the very least.

 

He had just closed the fridge after putting some water in there when he heard her call out from the hallway. “Jared, I swear to Chuck that better not be you because once I'm better I will kick your ass.”

 

That made him smile. As sick as she was, she was still willing to threaten Jared who could carry her with one arm. Of course with Jared being the gentle giant that he was, at the most the ass kicking he would probably get a disappointed look and an admonishment of Bad Moose. He called back to her, “It's your boyfriend, not your husband. It's cool.” If he could make her laugh or distract her from feeling like crap, he would.

 

When he turned and saw her, her normally pale skin even more sallow, the exhaustion and discomfort evident, he felt his sense of humor take a step back. “Hey baby. I'm guessing things still aren't staying down?” He didn't know what else to say beyond the obvious. He didn't even want to guess at how much weight she'd lost in the last couple days but from the look of her pajamas, it was noticeable.

 

She sighed and it broke his heart. “No, they aren't.” She sounded so defeated and frustrated. She'd actually apologized more than once about getting sick and had tried to insist he go spend time with friends and family, she'd be fine. That was another battle she'd lost. There was no way even if she wasn't his new girlfriend that he'd let her suffer alone.

 

“Come on, sit down before you fall down.” He made his way over and wrapped his arm around her to help her to the recliner that had been his housewarming gift for her that first Christmas. Now he was proud at his selection, hopefully it's plushness being a comfort. He covered her legs with the afghan his grandmother had made for her last year and gently reclined it just enough so her legs were out. He touched his hand to her forehead and cheeks and sighed. The fever was gone but the strain of the illness was still there. The doctor had told him what to look out for in terms of her possibly passing out again and with her clammy pale skin, he was worried. “Clammy girl. Do you feel like you are going to pass out again?”

 

She'd closed her eyes when he'd been tucking her in and opened them again with a noticable effort. “No, I'm okay. Just tired. Can I have some ginger ale?”

 

“Of course darlin'. Stay here. Wanna try some crackers or toast?” He moved quick to grab a bottle of ginger ale, snapping it off it's ring for her. He knew better than to refrigerate any of her drinks so that the cold didn't shock her stomach into rebelling yet again.

 

“Not right now. I want to wait a little before I try.” He opened the bottle for her, not sure she'd be able to and she smiled weakly. “Thank you.”

 

He nodded, sitting on the arm of the sofa that was at a right angle with the recliner. “Are you feeling any better? Even with the meds?” He was pretty sure if she wasn't showing any progress by tomorrow he'd get that doctor back and do his best to force her to go to the hospital. There was only so much strain the body could take and he didn't want her to end up worse off because of something that could've been solved by a hospital stay earlier.

 

She shrugged. “The nausea pills help. Just gotta give the antibiotics time. I'm sure it doesn't help that they probably don't get 100% in my system before I end up throwing up or something.”

 

“We can still go to the hospital and you can get an IV of medication plus saline, Kate. Say the word and we're there.” If she wanted to go now, he had his keys in his pocket and was more than ready.

 

“Sweetheart, no. I don't want to go to the hospital. I'll be fine. I've been sick like this before and been by myself and been fine. I don't need a hospital.”

 

He sighed, running his hand through his hair before moving to sit on the couch that he was beginning to get used to after the last couple nights. Why did she have to be so damned stubborn? He didn't even want to think about her dealing with being this sick alone. It reminded him to thank Jared, yet again, for hiring her three years ago. “You aren't alone anymore and it's killing me to see you so sick. I know you hate hospitals and they bring back a lot of bad memories. I just want you to get better.”

 

“I know. I know.”

 

She had an aversion to the hospital after so much time spent going back and forth with her brother when he'd been fighting and then dying from cancer. Even when Jenna had been born, he'd seen her struggling a bit to deal with her surroundings and so had Jared. Holding little tiny Jenna had been quite the distraction there.

 

They sat there for a bit in the quiet before Jensen got up. “I almost forgot, the boys made you something to help you feel better.” He grabbed the cards that Jared and Gen had brought out to him when they'd seen his truck return from his run to the grocery store. They'd asked how she was and of course how he was doing and what they could do. “And by boys I mean Tom, Shep and their father. Though I can't tell which one is Jared's.”

 

He handed her the cards and watched as she looked them over, a smile taking her face as she took in the stick family that included both of them alongside a very tall Jared and of course scribbles managed by Jenna that were explained by the careful print of her mother. “Aww, this is great. I'm gonna keep these forever.” She rested her head against the back of the recliner and he took the cards back, putting them on the counter so she could look at them again later if she wanted. “I feel bad keeping them away but I don't want them to be sick for Christmas or at all. You are still feeling okay, right?”

 

He nodded, having returned to his seat on the couch. Of course she'd be worried about how everyone else was feeling before worrying about herself. That was how she'd earned her “Momma” nickname. “I'm fine. I haven't been sick in three years thanks to you. Jared either.”

 

“And I want to keep it that way.”

 

“Do you want to stay out here or do you want to go back to bed?” He asked, careful to see what she would say verses what he could see was the truth. Right then he knew if she wanted to go back to the bedroom, he was carrying her and not in the way he had after the party in Vancouver. He hoped she wanted to stay out here, it was easier to keep an eye on her that way.

 

“I'll stay out here for a bit. I'm comfortable for now.”

 

“Want to watch Netflix or something?” She looked like it was taking everything in her to stay awake but he had to try.

 

“Yeah, that sounds good. You pick. I might fall asleep.”

 

“Okay. Something loud with lots of explosions.” He gave her a wink and grabbed the remote.

*****

 

Jensen waved to Clif as the older man pulled back out of Jared's driveway having gone to Christmas services with the extended family like he always did. They never had very many problems in Austin, the residents being very protective of them but Clif didn't take chances. He turned to help carry Shep into the house, the boy almost making it halfway through the services before he fell asleep. Tom was awake but just barely so Jared was carrying him.

 

“I'm glad Kate's doing better. She loves doing the whole Christmas episode marathon thing with the kids every year.” Gen spoke up as they made their way to the front door. Kate was very not religious and volunteered every year to babysit. This year had been just her and little Jenna. She'd finally started to feel better and no doubt babysitting just Jenna would be easy on her still healing body being the infant couldn't exactly run off on her.

 

“Yeah, me too. I think that's what bugged her the most about the timing of being sick was that it was keeping her from being able to spend time with the kids and help you for the holidays.” He looked down to Shep who was out like a light.

 

“I'm just glad a trip to the hospital wasn't needed though she probably should have gone anyway. She's a stubborn girl, our Kate.” Jared said with a smile and a shake of his head as his wife opened the front door.

 

“That's for damned sure.”

 

They walked into the living room that was only lit by the huge tree that Jared managed to get every year and found a singularly adorable sight. Kate was asleep, stretched out on the sofa with little Jenna on her chest, both out for the count. Jensen felt his heart swell with affection for both and the way the Christmas lights twinkled their varied colors on them.

 

“Aww look at them!” Gen said in a hushed tone, quickly getting out her phone to take pictures with a muted flash that didn't wake either. “That's the cutest thing I've ever seen.”

 

“Daddy, will Santa come if Aunt Kate is asleep by the tree?” Tom asked sleepily, rubbing at his eye.

 

Jared grinned at his son. “I'm sure he would buddy but he won't unless everyone is asleep. So why don't we get you and your brother upstairs and when you wake up, Santa will have been here and everything.”

 

“Ok Daddy.” The boy said simply. “G'night Unca Jensen.” His father put him down so he could then take Shep and Tom gave Jensen a big hug. “G'night Aunt Kate.” he said in that exaggerated whisper that all kids had.

 

Jared's grin didn't even flinch. “See you in the morning man.”

 

Jensen nodded as Tom moved to take his father's hand and the three went upstairs. He looked back to Gen who looked almost hesitant to take her infant daughter from the protective hold that her husband's assistant had on her. “Thinking about taking more pictures?”

 

Gen shook her head with a smile. “Trying to figure out how to do this without waking either of them up.” Finally she was able to carefully extract Jenna who only fussed a little before going right back to sleep. “See you both in the morning.”

 

“Sure.” He gave her and Jenna kisses on the cheek before they headed upstairs too, leaving him in the living room with a still snoozing Kate. He didn't want to wake her but with Christmas just a few hours away depending on when Tom and Shep woke up, sleeping on the couch wasn't an option. Just the same, he didn't rush it. He took the chance to watch her sleep in comfort rather than ill exhaustion for a few minutes before moving to wake her. “Kate? Come on baby. Time to go to bed so Santa can show up.”

 

Kate woke slowly and had a look of confusion in her eyes. “Huh? Where's Jenna?”

 

“Gen took her about 10 minutes ago. You two partied pretty hard huh? We came back and you two were out for the count. Did you do what you planned?”

 

She yawned, covering her mouth with one hand and stretched. “Yeah. We watched Rudolph and she liked Yukon Cornelius.”

 

He smiled, Yukon was one of his favorites too. “A woman of taste. And the Grinch?”

 

She nodded. “Yep. She was nodding off a little but she's a baby so it's forgivable. How was church?”

 

“It was church. The boys behaved though Shep fell asleep before service was over.” He stood up and helped her to standing before wrapping his arms around her. “So now that you are feeling better, can I please share the bed with my girl again? I sent a letter to Santa and everything.”

 

She laughed, hugging him back. “Yeah I think it's safe. Gotta set the alarm so we can get the presents over here before the boys wake up.” Her apartment was Gen's secret hiding spot for her children's presents, the one place they couldn't get to that was much easier than the attic or the basement. “Do you have Jared's presents?”

 

“Yep. In the back of my truck, covered with the blanket. We're good.” Her present was hidden there too, not that he had any doubt she knew that already.

 


	19. Kate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes! So sorry this update is SO late but sadly inspiration has been lacking. In real life I have a job I hate with my soul entire and that doesn't exactly help the creative process.
> 
> So here we go, finally. Had to skip a bit but I'll backtrack too.
> 
> Please comment! I'm curious as to what kind of presents you think Kate would give the boys. The only thing I really have set in stone is Jensen's present to Kate. I used to be good at this creative stuff...I don't know what happened.
> 
> Anywho....story!

**Kate POV**

Kate carefully readjusted Jenna to relieve her left arm which was starting to fall asleep and was thankful the infant didn't wake at the movement. It was only a few days till the New Year and they'd flown out a few days early so they could get that much more time on the islands before and after the convention itself before returning to Vancouver to start filming the show again.

 

Jenna, being a baby had not liked being on a plane at all and most of the time she and Gen had spent trying to keep the infant from screaming her head off. Considering the baby couldn't understand the pressure change in her ears or how to make them pop, she was probably in a world of discomfort for most of the trip. Of course, she'd finally fallen asleep just before they landed and was dead to the world as they made their way off the plane.

 

“Sweetheart, are you sure you don't want me to carry her?” Jensen asked, already carrying both his carryon bag and hers.

 

“No. I got her. She needs to sleep, poor thing is exhausted.” She said softly, feeling the soft puffs of Jenna's breath against her neck. Truth be told, she loved that the baby was comfortable enough with her to just fall asleep and stay asleep like that. Somehow it made her feel important, special.

 

“I am too. Next time let's take a cruise or something here.” Gen joked, holding Shep's hand while Jared was holding Tom's. Both boys were a little sleepy given how early they had left Texas but were still curious about the new place they found themselves in.

 

Before anyone else could speak, they were greeted by grinning young ladies. “Aloha and welcome to Hawaii!” They said to each of them while putting brightly colored leis around their necks.

 

“Boys, how do we say thank you while we're here?” Kate asked. In addition to trying to keep Jenna distracted, she'd worked on keeping the boys distracted by finding things to teach them about where they were going.

 

Tom very seriously cleared his throat and along with a shy Shep who was clinging to Gen, said, “Mahalo!”

 

The girls were very surprised but also rather impressed and praised both boys who were beaming in pride. Kate might not be teaching professionally at the moment but she still enjoyed teaching whenever she could. “Good job buddy. Nice one Shep.” Jared praised his son, ruffling his hair.

 

Tom stepped forward and looked up at the girls and said, “I can name all the islands too. Wanna hear?”

 

The one girl, whose nametag read “Leila” smiled at him and squatted down to his height. Kate guessed this girl might have a child of her own or had children in her life by the way she knew to get to Tom's level to make him more comfortable and encourage him. “There are 6. You know all of them? I live here and sometimes I forget.”

 

Kate looked to Gen who looked so proud already before Tom even started.

 

“Umm, there's Maui and Hawaii. And Oahu and Kauai.” He took a breath, chewing his little bottom lip as he thought of the other two, Leila holding up her fingers to show he got 4 so far. “And ummm Lanai, like on the Golden Girls! That's one of my daddy's favorite shows!”

 

Kate almost had to turn away, barely able to hold back a snort of laughter at the honest truth of the boy's statement and the blush that took over Jared and Jensen's faces and the whimper of barely controlled giggles that came from Gen who had her eyes tightly closed in her efforts.

 

Leila for her credit, just grinned in approval. “That's right! It's the name of an island and a kind of patio! What a good way to remember it! What's the last one though?”

 

“Oh...umm it's...it's a hard one!” Tom looked up to Kate. “Aunt Kate?”

 

“You know this one sweetie. It starts with a M.” She wanted to give him a chance to get them all. “Mo...”

 

“Oh! Oh! Molokai! Molokai! That's where hula dancing is!”

 

Both Leila and her coworker had big grins for Tom, both giving him high fives. Kate couldn't have been prouder and Tom wasn't even her child.

 

“That was awesome big guy! Gimme a bump!” Jensen praised the boy, doing a fist bump before his honorary nephew threw himself into his arms he was so excited he got them all right. Jensen just grinned, lifting the boy off his feet with a bear hug before releasing him.

 

“I knew you could do it Tom! Good job!” Kate praised, making sure to not only keep her voice down but also keep a bit of motion going so little Jenna didn't wake up. She held up her free hand and got a fist bump from the boy.

 

Jared was grinning and no doubt knew that if they didn't go now, Tom would try to teach these native girls everything he'd learned about Hawaii and then he'd move on to what he knew about Texas and so forth. He was a lot like his dad in how much he enjoyed learning. “Mahalo ladies. Really.”

 

“Oh it is our pleasure, Mr. Padalecki. We're very happy to have you here.”

 

They headed on their way, little Shep chanting “MoloKAI! MoloKAI!” over and over while doing what one could only guess was a kind of almost hula dance. At least for him it was.

 

They were almost to the luggage pickup which thankfully wasn't as far from the gate as some airports when Kate noticed both Jared and Jensen were snickering like teenagers as Tom and Shep yanked Gen to the moving racks with interest. “What?”

 

“We totally all just got lei'd together.” Jensen said with a little snort that was nearly in sync with Jared's own.

 

“That's so hot.”

 

She rolled her eyes as she rocked with Jenna, who for her credit hadn't moved or anything, even with everyone talking around her. The joys of ambient noise apparently. “You two are idiots.”

 

“Yeah darlin', but we're your idiots.” Jensen said with a grin and a wiggle of the eyebrow before planting a chaste kiss to her temple.

 

\----

 

As much as Kate loved little Jenna, she was very thankful to finally be able to let both arms hang down, the infant now napping in a crib set up by the hotel in her parents room as she made her way out as quietly as she could. Jenna was a sound sleeper but she didn't want to push it just the same. She made her way a few doors down, finding it almost weird not to just go to the connecting door. Normally, she would have had a room that was attached to either Jensen's room or Jared's, being their assistant. Half the time having multiple rooms was a waste of time because most of the cast at whatever convention would end up all in one room at some point. It was one of the reasons that she was pretty sure they had at least a floor to themselves, if not two. And this time she didn't have a room of her own.

 

She was sharing with Jensen.

 

She'd been a little nervous about it since sometimes people who worked in hotels could make a few bucks if they leaked some of the more private details of their guests to either magazines or fans. The boys and even Gen had told her not to worry about it. What rooms who stayed in didn't matter to anyone but them.

 

Truth was, with the exception of the few days when she'd been sick before Christmas, they hadn't spent a night apart since they got together after the Supernatural Christmas wrap party. It was strange and it wasn't considering all the times that she'd fallen asleep at Jensen's apartment or Jared's or either one of them had fallen asleep at hers. Of course now things were very different because she and Jensen were a couple.

 

It'd been nearly two weeks and her mind was still trying to catch up with the concept.

 

She took the key card out of her pocket and walked in, almost knocking like she normally would have done. She'd always had three keys whenever they stayed at a hotel for a convention and the boys both carried hers too, just like with the keys to their Vancouver apartments or back in Texas. That's just how they worked. It almost seemed weird to only have two keys in her pocket.

 

The room was rather luxurious and unlike the many hotel rooms she had stayed in over the years, only had one king sized bed instead of two full beds. It was filled with morning light and it was hard to believe that when they left Texas, the light had barely been rising and here, it was still just early morning. The joys of time zone changes.

 

“Sweetheart, you have got to see this view!” Jensen called out from the balcony.

 

She made her way over and was immediately struck by the beauty of the panoramic view they had. This was amazing. “Oh wow. They are going to have to drag us off these islands. Feel that sun and it's still early!” She took a deep breath and loved the unique scent of the sea air along with the various flowers and plants the islands were overflowing with.

 

“They'll have to knock us out and then drag us. There's so much to do, we'd have to stay just to try and see it all. The boys want to swim with dolphins which I am so down for and I'm dying to try one of those donut things they talk about on Hawaii Five-0. What are they called?”

 

“Malasadas. I'm sure we're going to get a lot of those while we're here. Didn't Alex say he was going to treat you guys to some when we go to set?”

 

The boys were going to film a scene while they were there that might or might not get used either on Supernatural or on Hawaii Five-0, it all depended on the studios playing nice. It had been arranged rather publicly on Twitter between Jared and Jensen on the Supernatural side of things and Alex McLaughlin and Scott Caan, as well as, strangely enough, Scott's father, James Caan and William Shatner of all people playing intermediary. Of course it helped that Misha was friends with the Star Trek actor, the elder man calling Misha “Boo” much to his chagrin. Kate was more than excited, Hawaii Five-0 being another show she was a big fan of.

 

“I fully plan on trying anything and everything while we are here. Within reason. That said, you still want to go to the Arizona, right?”

 

Kate nodded. Her father's only brother, her Uncle Edward had been one of the many who had been lost on the USS Arizona when the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor back in 1941. It had been the catalyst that had led to her father joining the Navy and had been one of the inspirations for her to go into history, though she'd gone with the Civil War instead of World War 2. “Yeah but I can do that on my own while you guys go do something wholly crazy like ziplining through the jungle or basejumping off a cliff.”

 

“Hey.” He pulled her into a hug before pulling back. “Don't think we aren't going to go with you. Family is family. This is important to you and it's important to us too. Capishe?”

 

She smiled and leaned up to give him a gentle kiss. “Thank you, llama.”

 

“You are welcome. Now come on, let's get our swimming stuff and we'll kidnap the boys to give Jare and Gen a bit of time while Jenna sleeps.”

 


	20. Jensen

Jensen shifted his bag higher onto his shoulder so he could grab Kate's bag as well as the case for her new violin that she hadn't wanted to risk putting through regular luggage claim. He was very pleased with himself, the electric violin had been a great Christmas gift idea. What else would be better for someone who was the first chair violinist for her father's orchestra at 16?

 

“Llama, you don't have to carry all my stuff. I can take something, Jenna's not that heavy.” Kate said softly, adjusting the snoozing toddler.

 

“I know she isn't but I got this.” He gave her a wink before nodding to the plane exit. “Come on, let's get this semi-vacation started.”

 

He followed her as she followed Gen with Shep and Jared followed him with Tom, saying goodbye to the attendant and making their way into the airport itself. It was when she adjusted the baby again, still asleep, that he had to ask. “Sweetheart, are you sure you don't want me to carry her?”

 

“No. I got her. She needs to sleep, poor thing is exhausted.” She said softly, her hand resting on the baby's back. He made a mental note to get a picture someday of her with Jenna like this. It was kinda strange how calming and just heartwarming it was and Jenna wasn't even his kid or hers. The picture Gen had taken on Christmas Eve of the pair asleep on the couch was his phone's wallpaper, much to Kate's protest.

 

“I am too. Next time let's take a cruise or something here.” Gen joked.

 

Jensen and Jared looked at each other and he knew immediately that neither of them would have any problem whatsoever with a cruise to paradise. Of course, it might have to be a grown-ups only cruise. They had to do that at least once. Had Kate ever been on a cruise before? He searched his memory and couldn't think if she'd ever mentioned it before. That could be fun.

 

Before anyone else could speak, they were greeted by grinning young ladies. “Aloha and welcome to Hawaii!” They said to each of them while putting brightly colored leis around everyone's necks. He'd forgotten about this part of Hawaii and sighed to himself even though he smiled and thanked the girl. No doubt they'd be wearing these things during the convention near constantly.

 

“Boys, how do we say thank you while we're here?” Kate asked. She'd spent most of the early morning plane trip not only helping Gen try to calm the baby but also keep Tom and Shep distracted by doing what she did best next to taking care of him and Jared and that was teaching. He probably would have slept on the ride but he'd enjoyed just watching her with the boys, teaching them kid friendly history and sounding out new words like that for thank you.

 

Tom very seriously cleared his throat and along with a shy Shep who was clinging to Gen, said, “Mahalo!”

 

The girls were very surprised but also rather impressed and praised both boys who were beaming in pride. “Good job buddy. Nice one Shep.” Jared praised his son, ruffling his hair.

 

Tom stepped forward and looked up at the girls and said, “I can name all the islands too. Wanna hear?”

 

Jensen wasn't surprised in the least that Tom wanted to show off. He was more like his father in how much he enjoyed learning and why not? Hell, he was pretty sure he couldn't remember the island names and he was an adult. One of the girls with the nametag Leila squatted down to Tom's height with a friendly smile. “There are 6. You know all of them? I live here and sometimes I forget.”

 

Jensen looked to Gen and Kate who were just beaming at Tom before he even started. That was one thing that had made Kate really a part of their strange cast family. She'd formed a bond with Gen and the boys the first day she met them from what Jared told him later. He hadn't been there but he wished he had to see Kate in whatever she'd worn for the interview sitting on the floor of Jared's trailer with Shep in her lap and Tom showing her the new book he got. How many job interviews had you spending time with your boss' wife and kids? He was pretty sure that was the final checkmark for Jared. Now, he couldn't even imagine having an assistant that wasn't like Kate.

 

Then again, he was a tiny bit biased.

 

“Umm, there's Maui and Hawaii. And Oahu and Kauai.” He took a breath, chewing his little bottom lip as he thought of the other two, Leila holding up her fingers to show he got 4 so far. “And ummm Lanai, like on the Golden Girls! That's one of my daddy's favorite shows!”

 

Jensen managed not to groan as Jared turned beet red with embarrassment, Gen scrunched up her face in an effort not to laugh while Kate actually turned her head to keep from laughing. It was a good show but not exactly what people probably imagined either himself or Jared watching pretty regularly.

 

Leila for her credit, just grinned in approval. “That's right! It's the name of an island and a kind of patio! What a good way to remember it! What's the last one though?”

 

“Oh...umm it's...it's a hard one!” Tom looked up to Kate who was gently rocking to help keep Jenna asleep. “Aunt Kate?”

 

“You know this one sweetie. It starts with a M.” She encouraged in her gentle way. “Mo...”

 

“Oh! Oh! Molokai! Molokai! That's where hula dancing is!”

 

Both Leila and her coworker had big grins for Tom, both giving him high fives.

 

“That was awesome big guy! Gimme a bump!” Jensen praised the boy, doing a fist bump before his honorary nephew threw himself into his arms he was so excited he got them all right. Jensen just grinned, lifting the boy off his feet with a bear hug before releasing him.

 

“I knew you could do it Tom! Good job!” Kate praised with a big smile, making sure to not only keep her voice down but keep that motion going so little Jenna didn't wake up. She held up her free hand and got a fist bump from the boy.

 

Jared was grinning and no doubt knew that if they didn't go now, Tom would try to teach these native girls everything he'd learned about Hawaii and then he'd move on to what he knew about Texas and so forth. “Mahalo ladies. Really.”

 

“Oh it is our pleasure, Mr. Padalecki. We're very happy to have you here.”

 

Jensen smiled too, saying mahalo and the girls saying pretty much the same thing they said to Jared. He didn't care if he was nearly 40, it was fucking weird to have people call him Mr. Ackles. That was his dad, not him. But hey, it wasn't being called daddy or Dean so he was doing alright.

 

They headed on their way, little Shep chanting “MoloKAI! MoloKAI!” over and over while doing what one could only guess was a kind of almost hula dance. At least for him it was. All Jensen hoped was that Jared didn't start doing it too because he would. Hell, he was surprised Jared didn't start the chant and the dance. It wouldn't have been the first time and no doubt not the last.

 

As they were walking, Jared leaned over and murmured, “Hey, do you think there's a term for when they give you the leis?”

 

Jensen furrowed his brow. “What?”

 

“You know like, giving the lei or getting leid?” He let out a chuckle. “That's gotta be it. Getting leid.”

 

“You are a moron genius.” But he was still laughing just the same so what did that make him?

 

The boys had yanked Gen to the moving racks that had just begun to fill with luggage when Kate turned and tilted her head with confusion. No doubt confused as to why they were both snickering like kids. “What?” She asked

 

“We totally all just got lei'd together.” Jensen said, snorting along with Jared at just how stupid and hilarious it sounded out loud.

 

“That's so hot.” Jared said with a valley girl voice and that just made it that much more funny.

 

Kate, who was rocking with the baby just rolled her eyes. After all this time she was an expert at how silly they could get. “You two are idiots.”

 

“Yeah darlin', but we're your idiots.” Jensen said with a grin and a wiggle of the eyebrow before planting a chaste kiss to her temple.

 

***

Jensen stepped out of the bathroom, rather impressed with the suite they'd been given for their time in Hawaii. They always seemed to luck out with hotels but this time there would be one less room being taken up because this time he and Kate were officially sharing.

 

He'd been thinking about the whole thing while he'd been unpacking their stuff in the room, even going so far as to unpack their toiletries with his stuff by one sink and hers by the other. In the last three years, Kate always had her own room but it was usually one that was attached to either his or usually Jared's by a door. And just because she had a room didn't mean she got to use it a good portion of the time. Convention time wasn't exactly filled with much private time with the way their cast family was.

 

This would be their first convention as a couple and part of him worried about what that could mean. He'd seen over the last few weeks just what Kate had been told about how many of the fans already had their theories about their relationship. He'd never realized just how obvious he was. It didn't matter though, he wasn't going to act any different just because there would be fans around.

 

He stood up after moving their suitcases and stretched his back, taking a deep breath. They had all day today to enjoy the island and relax and he planned to take full advantage. That was once Kate was able to put Jenna down without the baby waking up. He wasn't sure how the baby managed to fall back to sleep after how much she fussed on the trip to the hotel but the second Kate picked her up out of the car seat to hand to Gen, she was out and back to sleep on Kate's shoulder.

 

He opened the patio door and stepped out into the Hawaiian morning. This was even better than he imagined and he'd been to Hawaii several times over the years. He knew Kate hadn't though and he was looking forward to doing as much as possible with her as he could as work allowed. It had been cute how she'd insisted to him when he'd brought his bags to her apartment at Jared's last night that he had to let her do her job, that she was still his assistant and this was a working trip.

 

She was right of course but things were different now that they were together. Or were they really? The main difference was the physical aspect which he really really enjoyed and that was when they were alone. He'd always been affectionate with her before as all the fan pictures and such showed online. His favorite being when they'd had the convention in Albany and Kate had managed to arrange things so the orchestra her father had founded was able to put on a performance at the same time they were there. What she hadn't told them was that the new conductor had worked to arrange what he called a Supernatural Symphony. It was roughly a 10 minute piece of music that began with a solo Carry On My Wayward Son on violin by Kate. The picture fans loved was of right after the performance and the hug they shared.

 

How many of them had no idea just how close he'd come to kissing her that night, she'd made him so happy with the surprise performance.

 

The sound of the door beeping broke him from his thoughts and told him that Kate had been able to put down Jenna. “Sweetheart, you have got to see this view!” He called out, knowing she was going to love what she saw.

 

She stepped out a moment later and he watched as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “Oh wow. They are going to have to drag us off these islands. Feel that sun and it's still early!” She took a deep breath of the sea air and sighed happily.

 

“They'll have to knock us out and then drag us. There's so much to do, we'd have to stay just to try and see it all. The boys want to swim with dolphins which I am so down for and I'm dying to try one of those donut things they talk about on Hawaii Five-0. What are they called?”

 

“Malasadas. I'm sure we're going to get a lot of those while we're here. Didn't Alex say he was going to treat you guys to some when we go to set?”

 

That was something that was going to be fun. It wasn't exactly a sanctioned crossover or anything. He honestly doubted whatever they shot would make it into an episode of either show. But it would be something fun for the fans, like the stuff they'd done for Comicon or whatever. Besides, Alex and Scott seemed like good guys and he liked the show, so why not? When you were in Hawaii, why not check out the Hawaii Five-0 set and bring an Impala with you?

 

“I fully plan on trying anything and everything while we are here. Within reason. That said, you still want to go to the Arizona, right?” Kate's uncle had been one of the men killed at Pearl Harbor and he knew that she wouldn't pass up a chance go to there both as a historian and for family reasons.

 

“Yeah but I can do that on my own while you guys go do something wholly crazy like ziplining through the jungle or basejumping off a cliff.”

 

“Hey.” He pulled her into a hug before pulling back. “Don't think we aren't going to go with you. Family is family. This is important to you and it's important to us too. Capishe?” There was no way he was going to go surfing or something while Kate was visiting the site where her uncle died. It didn't matter that it happened nearly 40 years before she was born, it was family. That would have been the case even if they weren't together but since they were, he needed to be there for her.

 

She smiled and leaned up to give him a gentle kiss. “Thank you, llama.”

 

“You are welcome. Now come on, let's get our swimming stuff and we'll kidnap the boys to give Jare and Gen a bit of time while Jenna sleeps.”

 

“Dolphins?”

 

He grinned. “Do you always read my mind?”

 

“Do you really want the answer to that?”

 

“Probably not. Come on.” He grabbed her hand and brought her back into the room so they could get ready.

 


	21. Kate

Kate stepped out of the shower and tucked a towel around herself, her mind on all the things that they had planned to do today while they had been at lunch yesterday. She and Jensen had surprised both Gen and Jared by secretly flying out their parents on a later flight. One of the best parts of that was that it gave them some kid free time that they could spend together.

 

She smiled as she wiped the condensation off the mirror, thinking about the sunset walk on the beach they had had before the two couples had gone their separate ways, much to the confusion of both herself and Gen. The boys had been plotting behind their backs and she didn't know what the Padaleckis had gone off to do but Jensen had taken her to an exclusive restaurant that had had the most delicious seafood on top of an amazing view.

 

She brushed out her hair, putting a bit of product in it before heading out of the bathroom so she could get dressed. Jensen had been dead to the world asleep when she'd finally decided to just give up on sleeping and take a shower. She was tired but her mind wouldn't let her sleep. It alternated between thinking about all the stuff she needed to do and might need to do that was work related, thinking about going to the Arizona like she and Eddie had always planned and of course, the man who was sitting up in bed on his phone and no longer asleep.

 

On his face was a curious smile that had her puzzled. What could have him smiling like that this early? “Llama, what are you smiling about?”

 

He looked up and she felt her heart skip at the affection in his eyes. He spoke so much without even saying a word sometimes. “You. I could hear you singing in the bathroom. I mean, I know I was good last night but Ode to Joy? In German? You flatter me, madam.”

 

She sighed, shaking her head. She hadn't even realized she'd been singing that loud. She'd always sung in the shower, the humidity from a shower was great plus the acoustics couldn't be beat. “Shut up.”

 

He laughed. “Come on, I'm paying you a compliment. I don't think I've heard you speaking German let alone singing it.”

 

“You know my dad was a huge Beethoven fan and besides that, his brother's favorite piece was Beethoven's 9th. I don't speak German, I just know that particular piece from singing it with the orchestra and stuff.”

 

“Just like the Italian with that song with Josh Groban when you were a kid?”

 

“Exactly.” She spoke as she got dressed, specifically bringing something she hoped would be both comfortable and respectable for the trip to the Arizona. A simple summer dress that was below the knee and subdued in color without being a mourning dress.

 

“I like that dress.” Jensen commented from the bed, no longer paying attention to his phone but watching her. “Gonna wear the Christmas present that Jared and Gen got you too?”

 

She nodded, heading over to the small safe that each of the rooms had for valuables. The present had been a very sweet charm necklace that included various charms to represent their unorthodox family. Where Gen had managed to find a charm not only of a moose but of a llama, she would never know but she loved it. She looked forward to adding to it herself when she found charms that she liked that made her think of someone in the cast family. “I thought it would be appropriate. Family and all.”

 

She took it out and was about to put it on herself when Jensen moved out of the bed and took it from her hands gently. “Let me.”

 

“Okay.” She moved her hair and felt him fumble a moment with the tiny clasp before letting the necklace settle against her skin and wrapped his arms around her, pressing a kiss to her shoulder, his hiatus beard scruff tickling her. “What?”

 

“Just thinking that today might be difficult for you. I mean, you didn't know your uncle but he was still family. Plus I know you always wanted to come here with your dad and brother, so figured you were thinking about them too.”

 

She turned in his arms and hugged him around the neck, fully aware he was only dressed in boxers. “Now who is the mindreader?” She stepped back a little, looking up at him with the concern in his eyes. “Yeah I'm thinking about them but it's not going to stop me from going. I don't even know if Daddy would have been able to, emotionally, even over 70 years later.”

 

“I can understand that. I bet you can too. You both lost your older brothers in pretty tragic ways.”

 

She nodded, her mind flashing with the horrors of Eddie's brief fight with cancer. “Yeah.” She mentally shook the memories away and focused on the man in front of her. “Why don't you hop in the shower and I'll see if anyone is up for breakfast?”

 

 

****

“Momma, what is it?”

 

Kate jumped, so focused on the picture in front of her, part of a display at the USS Arizona museum and memorial.. She'd always wanted to come out to Hawaii someday to be able to pay respects to the uncle she never knew and died nearly 40 years before she was born. Then again, it had always been something that she and Eddie had talked about and when he died, she chose not to think about the things they'd talked about doing together and now never would.

 

But both Jensen and Jared knew about her uncle, the one her brother had been named for. They'd been very thoughtful in insisting they go with her to pay their own respects. She'd hesitated, part of her not even sure if she wanted to go at all. This was supposed to be a fun work trip. The first Supernatural convention in Hawaii was a huge deal and something that had taken a ton of planning and replanning to have happen. Who would want to go to a memorial for such a horrible event like Pearl Harbor unless they had an interest in history or in her case, an interest in history as well as a family connection?

 

Then again, part of her hesitance also came from the fact that as a historian, she knew about the disaster better than most, the day that FDR had declared would live in infamy. She'd felt a responsibility to know since her uncle had been there. Her dad rarely talked about losing his brother, instead choosing to focus on his good memories. She couldn't blame him. What she'd learned over the years about what had happened on the USS Arizona and then what her imagination was able to come up with was horrifying.

 

“Kate?”

 

She turned to see both Jared and Jensen looking very concerned. She'd gotten lost in her thoughts. “Oh. Sorry boys. Just...I...” she shook her head and turned back to the picture that had grabbed her focus so completely. “Look at this.”

 

Both men moved in to look at the picture and it only took a moment before they both reacted, Jensen's eyebrows rising and Jared's jaw dropping.

 

The picture was one that was part of the museum's collection of personal artifacts found from the crewmen and officers of the Arizona. A way to emphasize exactly who was lost. Fathers, sons, husbands.

 

And brothers.

 

There were watches, shoes, parts of uniforms, a record player, a baseball and even a baby's rattle. That had made Jared stop, being a father himself. There were also pictures of the men, both those donated by family members and survivors as well as those found within and around the wreckage.

 

One particular picture, one she had never known even existed, was that of the Baylor boys.

 

Uncle Ed was in his navy uniform and had to be about 30 or so while her father was about 16. It had been a touch of irony that there had been such an age gap between the brothers as there would be for her and her own brother. They both looked so happy, so carefree. One would almost think they were twins, the brothers looked that much alike. They had the same blue eyes that thanks to the sepia photography looked almost white and the same big ears. _Be glad you got your mother's ears and not the Baylor ears, Katie girl!_ Her father would always say.

 

“Is this....this is your uncle and your dad?” Jared asked softly, his eyes moving from the picture to her. “This is them isn't it?”

 

She nodded. “Yeah. The Baylor boys. Can't mistake those ears.” She swallowed, intensely missing her father in that moment. Looking at that picture, he had the whole world before him, both of them had. Little did either know what would come. He'd just been a boy who wanted to be a musician, just like his father and big brother. Like Jensen had said that morning, it was something she could understand.

 

“When...how old do you think they are?” Jensen asked, his eyes sad. It was a little overwhelming to think about how quickly things could change for just about anyone.

 

“I think this had to be taken around 1940 or so. About a year before what happened here. My dad looks about 16. He turned 17 right after the disaster.”

 

Jared didn't say anything but moved to hug her, his large hand holding her head to his chest. Kate hugged him back, taking in the comfort that a “Jared Special” always provided. She was glad that Gen hadn't brought the boys to the Memorial but had taken them on an underwater cruise with her parents and in laws. They were too young to understand about things like this. “I'm ok, Moosie.”

 

He pulled back and looked down at her with those piercing eyes. He knew better than most how often people said they were okay when they weren't. She shared his struggle with depression and anxiety and they were both very conscientious about being supportive of each other on bad days. “No fibs?”

 

She gave him the best smile she could. “No fibs. It's kinda nice actually. It's a good picture. It's amazing it survived.”

 

“It really is, sweetheart.” Jensen spoke up.

 

“Excuse me, do you have any questions about the exhibit?” A voice came from behind them and the three turned to see who the speaker was. “Oh. Oh hi.”

 

Kate couldn't help but smile a little. It was always interesting when the boys were spotted by someone but even better when someone didn't realize who they were until they were actually speaking to them. She decided to bail out the museum worker who now looked a bit like a deer in headlights. “Not really questions, no. I just recognized some family in the mementos here.” She pointed to the picture. “That's my dad with his brother Ed. Uncle Ed was on the Arizona that day.”

 

The woman's eyes went from shock at the boys to confusion. “Wait, your father? In that picture? That would have him having been born in the 20s.”

 

Before she could answer, the boys answered for her, in unison. “She was a surprise.”

 

“I would say so! I'm Dr. Keiko Miles, I'm one of the curators around here. It's always an honor to meet the family of the men of the Arizona.” She held out her hand.

 

Kate nodded and shook the woman's hand. “Nice to meet you, I'm a PhD myself, just the 19th century.”

 

“We're her assistants. Carrying books, that kinda thing.” Jensen quipped.

 

Kate rolled her eyes and smacked him in the stomach with her free hand. “Behave. I'm guessing you know these two. Jensen and Jared?”

 

“Oh. Yes, I do. I mean, I watch the show with my daughter. We have tickets to the convention.”

 

“That's great. We'll see you there at the Q&As? Photo ops?” Jared spoke up.

 

“Oh umm I think we managed to get your main Q&A, not the gold one. And the photo ops sold faster than you'd think. Well, faster than I expected. We've been waiting for a convention here for a long time.”

 

The boys shared a glance and Kate knew they'd had a full conversation with just that look. “We've been waiting to come here for a long time too. Why don't you give Kate here your information. I think there's a couple extra photo op tickets and a few seats at any and all the Q&As you want to go to. Even Saturday Night Special tomorrow with Louden Swain.”

 

“Yep. Those extra ones always seem to show up. Funny thing.” Jensen said with a little twist to his lips, Dr. Miles back to being in shock. “Think your daughter would like that?”

 

“Oh, she would love that.” The woman paused. “Would you like me to make a copy of that picture for you? I mean, if you don't have it or anything? It'd be the least I could do. Especially for a family member of one of the men.”

 

“As long as it's not something that would get you in trouble.” Kate said. “I would love that, really. I didn't even know about the picture and it would mean a ton to me.”

 

“Sure! Let me go get the display keys and I'll be right back.”

 

As the woman all but scurried off, Kate turned to the boys. “That was very sweet of you guys to do.”

 

Jared shrugged. “I just didn't know we had such a fanbase in history PhDs. Go figure.”

 

She laughed. “That is a bit ironic.”

 

“Lucky if you ask me.” Jensen flirted, wrapping his arm around her.

 


	22. Jensen

Jensen woke up confused, at first at why he was alone in bed and also why it sounded like there was a German chick in the shower. Then his brain actually woke up and he realized it was Kate in the bathroom and she was singing. A bit of concentration made him realize she was singing Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

 

In German.

 

He grinned to himself as his ran both his hands over his face more than once to try and wake up a bit more before he grabbed his phone. He wasn't completely ignorant but he'd be lying if he said he would have been able to recognize the difference between Beethoven or any other classical composer before he met Kate. She'd really given him an appreciation for classical music. Unfortunately he'd failed to do the same when it came to country music. He was pretty sure she was allergic or something.

 

Managing to unlock his phone on the third try, he texted Jared.

 

**Man, you awake? She's singing. :-)**

 

A moment later, a reply. _Please tell me you aren't texting and sexing._

 

**Dude! No. Is that a thing?**

 

_I don't know. Probably. What is she singing?_

 

**Beethoven's Ode to Joy. In German no less.**

 

_That's our girl. Last night went well then? Lol_

 

**Yeah, we had a good night. Listen, you and your lady up? You know Kate's gonna wanna go to the Arizona sooner rather than later.**

 

_Gen's with the kids. I just got out of the shower myself. I figured she'd want to go early too. Do you think she's gonna be okay with it? You know, going where her uncle died?_

 

**She never knew him but it might get to her once she's actually there. But we'll be right there to support her, so it's cool. I'll probably see you in a bit.**

 

_K. Later._

 

He played around on his phone, checking messages and looking at Twitter. He could hear the water be turned off and knew she was wrapping herself in a towel and her crazy curls in another. He hoped she wasn't overthinking this trip to the Arizona, though he could understand it if she was. He'd done a bit of his own research, namely making use of google and youtube to find out more about Pearl Harbor. He knew the basics from school but not the details that a historian like Kate would.

 

The fact that her dad enlisted in the Navy the moment he could a year later, even with how his brother died just made him respect the man even more.

 

He was glad they went out last night and that he and Jared had managed to surprise the women with their separate date nights. They didn't get a ton of them, especially when they were doing a convention but everything had gone off without a hitch. He didn't know about Jared and Gen but if he was recognized by anyone, they were polite enough not to interrupt what was probably very obviously a date.

 

He liked taking Kate out on the town, making her eyes widen with surprise. Making her happy made him feel good. Even if they weren't dating, he still would have taken her out last night. For everything she did for both him and Jared, it would have been the very least he could do.

 

The bathroom door opened and she stepped out, her body wrapped in a towel like he'd predicted but her hair already combed and down. She looked like she was planning in her head, he knew that look pretty well after three years. She always tried to keep a running schedule in her head which was why in the time she'd been with them, neither he or Jared had been late unless something like traffic or a sudden unexpected change was involved. He put his phone away, having a pet peeve about people who played on the phone when someone else was talking to them.

 

She looked at him and tilted her head a bit in confusion. “Llama, what are you smiling about?”

 

He looked up and couldn't help but smile a bit more at the beautiful woman in front of him. Did she have any idea how happy she made him? “You. I could hear you singing in the bathroom. I mean, I know I was good last night but Ode to Joy? In German? You flatter me, madam.”

 

Her eyes widened and she shook her head and he could see just the hint of a blush. He bet she didn't even realize she'd been singing, let alone loud enough that he could hear her. “Shut up.”

 

He laughed. He lived for that blush. He knew too many people who were incapable of it, their egos blocking the bloodflow. “Come on, I'm paying you a compliment. I don't think I've heard you speaking German let alone singing it.”

 

“You know my dad was a huge Beethoven fan and besides that, his brother's favorite piece was Beethoven's 9th. I don't speak German, I just know that particular piece from singing it with the orchestra and stuff.”

 

“Just like the Italian with that song with Josh Groban when you were a kid?”

 

“Exactly.” She spoke as she got dressed, obviously trying not to keep the conversation about her classical training going. He had no idea why she tended to get so shy when it came to talking about her talent. She'd practically shut down a year earlier after a video of her singing with Brianna Buckmaster went viral and even got a positive comment and retweet on Twitter from Idina Menzel.

 

It was traditional that whoever had a birthday closest to the convention could get anyone to sing most anything at Saturday Night Special within reason. Brianna wanted Kate to sing “Defying Gravity” with her as Glinda and Kate as Elfhaba. After a great deal of begging and pouting, Kate had given in. He still liked to watch the video from time to time and it was still pretty popular. His favorite part was actually Gen's idea, one fan video of the performance catching Gen gesturing to Jared just before he nodded and stepped forward from his place in the wings to pick up Kate and put her on his shoulder just as she was singing the line about everyone derving the chance to fly. She hadn't missed a beat as Jared wrapped one arm across her hips to keep her steady and her hand found his other to help balance.

 

There'd been a ton of attention, almost all of it very positive but it had been too much for Kate to handle, even to the point that she'd nearly had a panic attack if it hadn't been for Misha of all people managing to calm her down. He wasn't sure if Kate knew he'd snuck a picture of the moment with Misha in full Castiel garb squatting down next to her sitting in a chair on the Bunker set, holding her hands and talking her through a breathing technique. He could understand that panic though, he loved conventions now but back when they first started, they had terrified him and he'd been in the business for years at that point.

 

“I like that dress.” He said finally, not wanting to push her when she was probably already a little preoccupied. It was a nice summer dress, not a granny dress but still very respectable for going to a war memorial. “Gonna wear the Christmas present that Jared and Gen got you too?”

 

She nodded, heading over to the small safe that each of the rooms had for valuables. While he'd gotten her an electric violin, the Padaleckis had gotten her a charm necklace that had little charms for each of them, including a moose and even a llama. “I thought it would be appropriate. Family and all.”

 

She took it out of the safe and closed it but before she could put it on herself, he got out of the bed and took it in his own hands. Something was telling him she needed a bit of reassurance about today even if she didn't know she needed it. “Let me.”

 

“Okay.” She moved her hair and he fumbled with the tiny clasp before managing to secure it. He let it settle and then wrapped his arms around her, still thankful he could do this now after so many times of having to deny himself the blatant affection. He kissed her shoulder softly, breathing in the smell of her soap and shampoo. “What?”

 

“Just thinking that today might be difficult for you. I mean, you didn't know your uncle but he was still family. Plus I know you always wanted to come here with your dad and brother, so figured you were thinking about them too.”

 

She turned in his arms and hugged him around the neck. “Now who is the mindreader?” She stepped back a little, looking up at him with those big blue eyes that just knocked him on his ass every time. “Yeah I'm thinking about them but it's not going to stop me from going. I don't even know if Daddy would have been able to, emotionally, even over 70 years later.”

 

“I can understand that. I bet you can too. You both lost your older brothers in pretty tragic ways.”

 

He could have kicked himself for bringing up her brother, seeing the smallest of flinches and the way her eyes lost focus, no doubt thinking about his short and bitter fight with cancer. “Yeah.” He gave her a minute rather than draw attention to it. “Why don't you hop in the shower and I'll see if anyone is up for breakfast?”

 

“Sure. I was talking to Jared, they should all almost be ready. I'll be quick. Okay?”

 

“Sounds good to me.” He leaned down and gave her a kiss before heading to the bathroom for a quick shower.

 

*****

 

“Momma, what is it?”

 

Jensen had been looking at the various pieces that the museum had right along with Jared and Kate when they both noticed she seemed focused on one area, almost frozen. It was sobering, being there and able to actually look down at the remains of the ship. Kate was handling it pretty well though he'd noticed her hands shaking a little as Jared helped her remove the flowers from the lei she'd brought so she could drop them in the water. She hadn't cried but he nearly had. Instead he'd rested his hand on her shoulder, pressing a kiss to the back of her head.

 

It made it a bit more real, seeing the remains of the ship and seeing the archived film footage of some of the fight as well as the aftermath. The list of names really hit when Kate's small fingers traced down to one name in particular, Lieutenant Edward Baylor, Queens NY.

 

She didn't react to Jared, so he tried.

 

“Kate?”

 

She turned finally, no doubt seeing the worry in both their eyes. “Oh. Sorry boys. Just...I...” she shook her head and turned back to the picture that had grabbed her focus so completely. “Look at this.”

 

They both moved in to look, curious as to what had made her so focused she didn't hear when someone was trying to get her attention. It only took a moment for both of them to react, the men in the picture only familiar because they had the same eyes as Kate. It was her father as a boy and her uncle, who had died very close to where they were standing in 1941.

 

Kate had her father's smile, that was something Jensen had noticed before in other pictures he'd seen of the man but still evident in this picture of him as what he was guessing was a teenager. Both he and his brother, in what was now an antiquated uniform, had the same eyes and rather pronounced ears, almost looking like twins. Apparently Kate had inherited her ears from her mother.

 

The eyes were striking though. He's always found her pale blue eyes to be beautiful, right from when they met three years ago but they stood out in the sepia photo before him, looking near white.

 

“Is this....this is your uncle and your dad?” Jared asked softly, his eyes moving from the picture to her. “This is them isn't it?”

 

She nodded. “Yeah. The Baylor boys. Can't mistake those ears.” She swallowed, her voice soft.

 

“When...how old do you think they are?” Jensen asked. It was a little overwhelming to think about how quickly things could change for just about anyone. These guys had no idea what was coming or how little time they had left together.

 

“I think this had to be taken around 1940 or so. About a year before what happened here. My dad looks about 16. He turned 17 right after the disaster.”

 

Jared did what was almost instinct for him to do in a situation like this and that was to wrap Kate up in a hug that she'd jokingly referred to more than once as a Jared Special. She all but disappeared in his arms, her head only meeting him mid-chest. Some people would be jealous or weirded out by the relationship that Kate and Jared had but he wasn't one of them and neither was Gen. They were kindred spirits, they just clicked. It was just like his own relationship with Jared and how quickly they became brothers in everything but blood. He was glad they had each other to lean on in support.

 

“I'm ok, Moosie.”

 

Jared pulled back and looked her straight in the eye. When it came to something like this, Jared was the best person to tell if she wasn't being truthful and at the same time, Kate wouldn't lie to him. They had that kind of trust when it came to feelings. That's why she made such a great assistant, she understood better than most. “No fibs?”

 

She gave him the best smile she could, that much Jensen could tell. “No fibs. It's kinda nice actually. It's a good picture. It's amazing it survived.”

 

“It really is, sweetheart.” He spoke up. What were the odds that they would go the memorial and find a picture not only of her lost uncle but her dad that she'd never seen?

 

“Excuse me, do you have any questions about the exhibit?” A voice came from behind them and the three turned to see who the speaker was. “Oh. Oh hi.”

 

Kate stepped forward, going into assistant mode. This was far from the first time that she'd helped out when they had been recognized by someone. She was great at keeping things lowkey so that Clif, who was nearby just in case wouldn't need to step in. “Not really questions, no. I just recognized some family in the mementos here.” She pointed to the picture. “That's my dad with his brother Ed. Uncle Ed was on the Arizona that day.”

 

The woman's eyes went from shock at the boys to confusion. Kate didn't even look her age so to say that her father was in a picture from around 1940 was probably messing with the woman's head. “Wait, your father? In that picture? That would have him having been born in the 20s.”

 

Before she could answer, he and Jared shared a look before responding for her in unison. “She was a surprise.”

 

“I would say so! I'm Dr. Keiko Miles, I'm one of the curators around here. It's always an honor to meet the family of the men of the Arizona.” She held out her hand.

 

Kate nodded and shook the woman's hand. “Nice to meet you, I'm a PhD myself, just the 19th century.”

 

“We're her assistants. Carrying books, that kinda thing.” Jensen quipped. He couldn't help himself.

 

Kate rolled her eyes and smacked him in the stomach with her free hand. “Behave. I'm guessing you know these two. Jensen and Jared?”

 

“Oh. Yes, I do. I mean, I watch the show with my daughter. We have tickets to the convention.”

 

And what was the chance that the one person who would come to talk to them at the Memorial would be a fan of the show? He almost wanted to play the lotto, even though he didn't exactly need to.

 

“That's great. We'll see you there at the Q&As? Photo ops?” Jared spoke up.

 

“Oh umm I think we managed to get your main Q&A, not the gold one. And the photo ops sold faster than you'd think. Well, faster than I expected. We've been waiting for a convention here for a long time.”

 

Jensen looked to Jared and knew they were both thinking the same thing. After all these years, he didn't even need to nod to Jared for him to know he agreed. “We've been waiting to come here for a long time too. Why don't you give Kate here your information. I think there's a couple extra photo op tickets and a few seats at any and all the Q&As you want to go to. Even Saturday Night Special tomorrow with Louden Swain.”

 

“Yep. Those extra ones always seem to show up. Funny thing.” Jensen said enjoying when they were able to do something nice for someone out of the blue. Dr. Miles was back to being in shock. “Think your daughter would like that?”

 

“Oh, she would love that.” The woman paused. “Would you like me to make a copy of that picture for you? I mean, if you don't have it or anything? It'd be the least I could do. Especially for a family member of one of the men.”

 

“As long as it's not something that would get you in trouble.” Kate said. “I would love that, really. I didn't even know about the picture and it would mean a ton to me.”

 

“Sure! Let me go get the display keys and I'll be right back.”

 

As the woman all but scurried off, Kate turned to them with a proud smile. “That was very sweet of you guys to do.”

 

Jared shrugged. “I just didn't know we had such a fanbase in history PhDs. Go figure.”

 

She laughed. “That is a bit ironic.”

 

“Lucky if you ask me.” Jensen flirted, wrapping his arm around her. “Does Hawaii have lotto? I think we should play.”

 


End file.
